Two of a Kind
by anime aficionado
Summary: What would happen if Gaara fled to Konoha with Yashamaru instead of etching love onto his forehead?  Let's see how the two demon containers fare.
1. Betrayal

Hello, everybody. This is my first fanfiction ever, so don't be too angry if it is unsatisfactory. I don't mind constructive criticism, but please give me reasons for your complaints. Thank you, and please enjoy my story.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter One: Betrayal**

Gaara of the Desert sat atop a building in his home village of Suna. It was night, the sun's rays no longer swaddling the villagers like some kind of invisible blanket. The moonlight made Gaara's skin seem even paler, the shadows around his eyes even deeper and darker than normal. His fiery red hair had darkened to the red of arterial blood.

_Why_, Gaara thought miserably,_ why am I such a monster?_ The darkness was always a difficult time for him. It reminded him of just how alone he truly was. Not one single friend, not one caring family member apart from Yashamaru. Every single villager looked at him with scorn and fear. It had been a long time since anyone had been foolish enough to throw anything more than a dirty look his way, but Gaara would have been willing to suffer any number of blows if he could have just one friend his own age.

_Go home, monster._

The little boy's words still rang in the back of Gaara's mind, ricocheting around the inside of his skull. The longer he sat there, dwelling on his solitude, the stronger the memories of the villagers pulsed at the back of his head like a migraine.

_**Worry not, little one, you will always have me**_.

Gaara felt his eyes burn with tears as the not-quite-voice echoed in his mind. The thought was far from comforting, just as it was intended to be. It was mocking, with more than a little malevolence and bitterness. He did not hear any actual words, just the emotion and sentiment of the demon within him. The message was clear enough, though. Shukaku had spent many years sealed away in a tea kettle before taking up residence inside Gaara. The demon had taken some small comfort in the fact that he now had a host that he could heap emotional abuse on.

Suddenly, Gaara's sulking was interrupted by the soft _poof_ of objects striking his sand barrier. He whirled around to see who had gotten drunk enough to forget about his perfect defense, then froze when he registered what was happening.

His assailant had his face covered in cloth, not uncommon in the desert. What was alarming was the presence of a ninja's headband around the attacker's forehead. Yashamaru had told him a long time ago that all ninja in Suna were forbidden from attacking Gaara. As the son of the Kazekage, he was an extremely valuable resource to the village. _This man must truly hate me to disregard an order from Father_, Gaara thought.

The tears that he had been holding back spilled as the ninja threw shuriken at him, all of them being deflected by his sand barrier. Villagers had never been shy about expressing their distaste for him in small ways, but this man was risking execution by defying an order form the Kazekage. _Why me,_ Gaara thought to himself, _why is it always me?_ Gaara's depression crested, and then something in him snapped.

Gaara felt all of his sadness turn into a simmering anger. The Shukaku, always eager for a bit of freedom, sensed his chance and set to work in Gaara's subconscious. The redhead felt his anger fanned into a true rage, the fangs of his demon's own will and fury chewing on his brain until all he felt was white.

All he saw was red.

He would make that red more than a rage-drunk hallucination.

Gaara's hand shot forward, palm out. Channeling chakra through his hand, Gaara's rage took shape as a tendril of sand lashed out and seized the ninja in an unbreakable grasp. As soon as the sand encircled his foe, Gaara became hyper aware of everything around him. The cool wind of the desert night on his skin, the harsh pants of the ninja encased in his grip, the tingle of the drying tear tracks on his cheeks.

The staccato _thump-thump, thump-thump_ of his prey's heartbeat.

A heartbeat that would not affront the peace of night for long.

Gaara allowed himself one moment to savor the fact that soon, this painful rage would be purged from his mind. His fingers closed into a firm fist, and he relished the sound of bones breaking under sudden, immense pressure.

_**Yeeeesssssssssss…**_

Shukaku, satisfied at the bloodletting, released his hold on Gaara's emotions and retreated to the back of his mind once more. He felt lightheaded, and fell to his knees as anger leaked out of him. Kunai, shuriken, and sand were scattered all about the rooftop. The sand on top of the corpse was stained red from the ninja's blood. The cloth that had concealed his face had come loose on one side, revealing half a face to Gaara's numb gaze. He froze in shock, Gaara knew this man!

"Heh, you truly are impressive, Gaara." The dying ninja said around a mouthful of blood.

_Baki_, Gaara thought in bewilderment, _why would you try to kill me?_ Since the time he could fist stand, Gaara had been trained to become a ninja. As the son of the village leader, he would have to be prepared for assassination attempts and the like. More importantly, as the container of the Shukaku, he would have to be given the skills with which he could use the demon's powers.

For the majority of Gaara's education in the ninja arts, his teacher had been Baki. Through their recurring meetings the two had formed, if not a friendship, then at least a mutual respect. Gaara had learned all of his basic ninjutsu and skills from Baki, and he had even taught Gaara a sort of meditation technique that helped him squelch Shukaku's murderous impulses. Apart from Yashamaru, Gaara thought Baki to be the only person who did not view him solely as a monster.

"Lord Gaara!"

Gaara turned to the roof's edge to see Yashamaru clambering up onto the roof. Yashamaru started to say more, but stopped when he saw Baki's corpse.

"I'm sorry!" Gaara cried, "He attacked me, and I could help myself! I was just so angry"

"It's okay, Lord Gaara." Yashamaru interrupted, "I have come to tell you something very important, but we must move right now!"

Relived that Yashamaru did not hate him, Gaara did not hesitate to obey. They began hopping from rooftop to rooftop. Some minutes later, Gaara could hear the signal whistles and shouts of more ninja. When Yashamaru heard the same noise, his face tightened in fear. He went even faster, and Gaara actually had to begin to exert some effort to keep up. Soon, they reached the outside of town where the buildings were shorter and they were more exposed on the rooftops. They descended to the streets and Yashamaru began to slow, turning his focus from speed to stealth. Gaara followed his lead, but luck was not on their side as two Suna jonin rounded the corner and all but collided with Gaara and Yashamaru.

As a medic, Gaara had always thought to himself that Yashamaru would probably not be much of an asset in a fight. Yashamaru himself had told him that he abhorred violence, and he spent far more time in the Suna hospital than as a field medic because of it. After this encounter, however, Gaara would never again doubt Yashamaru's prowess. With a flick of the wrist, Yashamaru drew a concealed kunai and rammed it into the first jonin's eye. Simultaneously, Gaara's uncle pivoted on one foot and kicked the other ninja in the solar plexus. The man's eyes bugged out as he collapsed, the wind had been thoroughly been knocked out of him. Yashamaru, not breaking stride, took one step forward and drove his right foot onto the man's neck with every ounce of his strength. The jonin's windpipe caved, and the vertebrae of his neck shattered from the impact. He let out one gurgle, and his limbs jerked spasmodically for a moment, then his eyes glassed over and he went still.

Gaara froze in shock, so much so that Yashamaru had to call him to remind him that they needed to keep moving. They ran for a few more minutes, and then they reached a stable on the very edge of the village. Yashamaru conversed briefly with the owner, then beckoned Gaara over to where the proprietor was untying a camel. There was enough room on the saddle for two people, so Gaara scrambled onto the camel behind Yashamaru. They immediately began to ride into the desert. Yashamaru had goaded the animal into a brisk run, which was a bad idea since both animal and rider would need to conserve fluids and energy for a trip of any kind of length in the punishing desert sands. Gaara kept his peace, though, deciding to trust the judgment of his guardian.

They did not keep up the pace for long. After a while, Yashamaru slowed their pace down to the trudging walk more common to people traversing the vast expanse of the desert. It was now that Gaara decided the time had come for his questions to be answered.

"Yashamaru," Gaara started tentatively, "what is happening? Why did we leave the village?"

Yashamaru was quiet for a long moment, then he replied, "Lord Gaara…what I have to tell you will come as quite a shock. As you know, before your birth the Lord Kazekage, your father, sealed the demon Shukaku inside of you. His purpose in this was to make you the most powerful ninja on the face of this world, and thus increase the power of our village. Until now, you have been carefully guarded and observed as a very valuable experiment."

Gaara knew all of this already, but despite his knowledge hearing it still caused his chest to constrict painfully. Yashamaru finished heavily, "However, due to your inability to control the demon within you, your father has ruled the experiment a failure. Lord Gaara, I am truly sorry, but your father has commanded that you be killed."

It was not exactly shock that coursed through Gaara's body. Some cold, calculating, ruthless part of his brain had guessed as much when Yashamaru had recapped his sad history. _Perhaps the part of my brain nearest to where the Shukaku resides_, Gaara thought to himself in cheerless sarcasm. Then, without warning, he began to cry harder than he had imagined possible himself. He dug his face into the back of Yashamaru's cloak as the fact that his own father, his own family, had sentenced him to death. True, his father had never seemed to like him, and Gaara could never remember seeing him smile, but he had never thought that he would be put down like some unsatisfactory lab animal if he had failed to measure up to his father's standards.

Yashamaru reached an arm back and wrapped Gaara in a one armed hug, rubbing his shoulders soothingly as Gaara tried to bring himself back under control. How Gaara wished he could escape into the black oblivion of sleep like any other person. The rush of eager assent in the back of his mind, though, reminded him just why he could not sleep. Shukaku often gleaned minuscule bits of freedom in his host's rages, but on the extremely rare occasions that Gaara lost consciousness Shukaku was allowed an alarming degree of power and freedom from his imprisonment. This, of course, only increased the child's anguish and made him cry even harder.

Hours later, as the sun broke over the horizon, Gaara's tears subsided into hiccups and groans, and soon even that faded away. By the time the sun had properly risen, Gaara was back in control. The broken child Gaara, whom only Yashamaru ever saw, was once more replaced by Gaara of the Desert. Thoughts of survival began to worm their way into Gaara's mind.

"Yashamaru," Gaara croaked, "where are we going?"

"It is no longer safe for you in Suna, Lord Gaara." Yashamaru replied, "As such, I have decided that we shall defect from Suna, and go elsewhere."

Gaara allowed that thought to sink in for a moment. Obviously, he had known that they would have to go into hiding. Yashamaru was in just as much danger as him for saving Gaara from Baki. Gaara realized that he would likely never see his home village again. All of his rooftop haunts, the playground, Temari, Kankuro, everyone and everything he knew. Everyone and everything that hated him for something he had no control over.

"Okay," Gaara said pensively, "so where will we live if not in Suna?"

"I know of another hidden village that is very far from here. More importantly, their leader is said to be as strong as the Kazekage, and he is said to have a kind heart. Hopefully he will take us in." Yashamaru replied.

"I see." Gaara said, "What is this other village called?"

"Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves."

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I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, please review! 

PS: I'm a slow and sporadic writer, so don't expect updates soon. Sorry.


	2. Home

Hello, everyone. Since I had Thanksgiving off, I was able to do much more writing than usual. The next chapter shouldn't take too long to post either.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter Two: Home**

Gaara of the Desert approached the front gate of Konoha with his uncle Yashamaru. It had taken them a week to traverse the desert that surrounded Suna, and an additional three days to make their way through the forests surrounding Konoha. They had been able to go much faster hopping from tree to tree than walking alongside a trudging camel. Gaara, though, was moving a bit slower than usual. He now wore a tan duffel bag over one shoulder, and hauling its weight was slowing him down.

Before they had left the desert, Gaara had come to a sudden realization. In Suna, sand was everywhere. It took almost no effort or chakra at all to lift some off the ground to use in his techniques. In Konoha, though, sand would be much scarcer. His absolute defense would not work if there was nothing for his chakra to manipulate. So he had commandeered an empty supply bag and stuffed as much sand as he could carry into it. Gaara had never been extraordinarily strong for his age and size, and lugging around all of sand he had taken was beginning to tire him. In addition, their departure from the desert seemed to have perturbed Shukaku. As soon as they had left the comforting familiarity of the dunes, Shukaku had been giving Gaara shooting head pains.

Two chunin guards stood by the gates. Gaara and Yashamaru did not try to mask their approach. If they were going to request citizenship, breaking an entering was not a good first impression to make. The guards smiled politely as they reached the gate, and greeted them warmly. _The people here seem much more relaxed than the people in Suna_, Gaara thought. Most ninja in Suna wore stony glowers as their default expression, or so Gaara had noted when they had not spotted him.

"Welcome to Konoha. May we see some identification?" One of the guards asked. His partner was holding a clipboard and pen, waiting to take their names. Yashamaru withdrew his headband from a pocket and showed it to the guard.

"I was hoping for a meeting with the Hokage, if he has time," Yashamaru requested.

"Of course," The guard without the clipboard replied, "Just follow me, and I'll escort you to the tower."

"That won't be necessary," Another man's voice said, _behind_ Gaara, "I need to go there to make my report anyway, I can take them."

Gaara whirled, and saw another Konoha ninja standing behind him. He was tall and lean, with a shock of gray hair. A mask covered his nose, and his headband covered one of his eyes. The man was clearly not a threat, his posture suggested aloofness, no matter how sharp the gaze of his one visible eye was. Still, there was something about him that kept Gaara on edge. He emanated a sense of undeniable power and skill, even when he was this laid back. Gaara could sense the sheer strength of his chakra even when he was relaxed, and he knew with absolute certainty that this man was very strong.

_This guy could eat Baki for breakfast and still have room for more_, Gaara thought. The man noticed he was under observation, and he looked Gaara straight in the eye. His look gave Gaara the feeling that he was being measured, but not in a threatening way. Just in the way of an elite ninja who never took anything at face value.

"Hello there." The man said, his eye crinkling in a mask-covered smile.

"Kakashi!" One of the guards cried, clearly spooked by the ninja's sudden arrival, "Don't do that!"

"Do what?" Kakashi asked, deadpan.

"Sneak up on us like that." The guard replied, "It gives me the creeps."

"Sorry." Kakashi apologized, in a tone that clearly said that he would continue to sneak up on the man just for the fun of it. He motioned at Yashamaru and Gaara.

"Well, shall we?"

The three of them walked through the gate and into Konoha. It was a few hours until noon, but the streets were crowded with villagers and vendors selling their wares. Everyone seemed happy, and among the jumble of voices and conversation, Gaara could hear plenty of laugher. _Yes_, Gaara mused,_ the people here are definitely more relaxed than the people in Suna are_. After a short walk, which the three spent in amicable silence, they reached the tower that served Konoha as the ninja base of operations.

They entered it and began climbing a series of staircases. The people who took notice of the strange ninja relaxed once they saw Kakashi leading them. Gaara was stunned. He had never seen such a large number of ninja off guard, especially when there were strangers in their midst. For all they knew, Kakashi could have been an enemy in disguise. It evoked a sense of profound professional horror in Gaara that a group of ninja could be so unwary.

The last flight of stairs ended at a lobby with one door at the far side. An attendant behind a desk was working on some paperwork. The secretary looked up, and waved them forward when he saw Kakashi. They crossed the room and opened the door to what Gaara assumed to be the Hokage's office. The Hokage was older than he had expected, he had to be at least sixty. He had a kind face, and strange markings descending from his bottom eyelids. His outfit was the same as the Kazekage's, except where the Kazekage outfit was blue, the Hokage's was red.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted, "Kakashi Hatake reporting from the successful mission to the Land of Grass."

"Well done, Kakashi." The Hokage replied, smiling at him as if the jonin were a favorite nephew. His cheerful demeanor squelched any sense of power Gaara might have sensed in the village leader. He gave off the aura of an affectionate grandfather, which probably made his subordinates love and fight for him even more than fear and respect. The old man's gaze passed over Gaara and Yashamaru as Kakashi gave his report, and his expression did not change. Gaara found himself liking this man against his will. It would be a shame if he turned out to be an enemy.

"-so the mission was a complete success. The grand total of enemy ninja deployed was around twelve or so. All of them are KIA." Kakashi finished.

Gaara's attention was instantly wrenched back to Kakashi. This man had killed twelve opponents, all of whom had probably been jonin as well, on his own with no backup! It was inconceivable. Even Gaara doubted he could pull it off, and he had his sand barrier to block every attack that came at him. His respect for the jonin increased even more. The Hokage dismissed Kakashi, and the gray-haired ninja left the room. His gaze once more shifted between Gaara and Yashamaru, curiosity blending with the good humor in his eyes.

"Well now, what message did you bring from the Kazekage?" The old man asked. Messages were the only reason he ever saw ninja from Suna, the distance was too great for social calls.

"We bear no message," Yashamaru replied quietly, "We are here for our own reasons."

The Hokage perked up in interest. Yashamaru began talking, he introduced Gaara and himself, told the old man of the assassins they had fought and evaded, about how their own family had tried to kill them. Throughout Yashamaru's explanation, the Hokage did not say one word. His hands were folded in front of his mouth, and his expression became grimmer as the story went on. Finally, Yashamaru ended their story with their desert crossing and a request to be allowed to reside in Konoha. Silence descended upon the room at the conclusion of Yashamaru's speech.

Now Gaara began to grow tense. As their tale had drained the contentment from the elder man's face, he began to look more and more like the feared ninja his position required him to be. His eyes had become cold, distant and calculating. He looked at Gaara as though he was trying to figure out how much time was left on the fuse of an exploding tag. This made Gaara even more wary. Yashamaru had not told the Hokage about Shukaku. Could the old man see the demon, dark and malevolent, behind Gaara's eyes?

"It seems you two have been through quite an ordeal." The Hokage stated heavily, "I'm very impressed that you managed to escape from Suna when the Kazekage had arrayed so many against you. I sympathize with both of you. However, before I allow you to remain in Konoha, there is something I must ask you."

"You are Gaara of the Desert, are you not? The container of the Shukaku?"

_The moment of truth_, Gaara thought, then he replied, "Yes, I am."

The Hokage sighed and said, "I thought as much. I had heard of what the Kazekage had done, but I had hoped the information to be false. To think that anyone could do such a thing, not out of necessity, but in a bid for power. To his own son no less."

The old man looked at Gaara, and his eyes were full of pity. Gaara bristled. He neither needed nor wanted anyone's pity. All he wanted was a chance. That was all he had ever wanted. Just a chance to prove himself, to live, to be accepted. All he wanted was to be judged by who he was, not what was within him.

"Lord Hokage," Yashamaru pleaded, "please…he is not a demon, merely the container. He can not help what lives inside of him."

"I understand, better than you think." The Hokage said, and some of the smile had returned to his face and presence, "I am wise enough not to judge someone by the burdens they bear. You may live in Konoha for as long as you wish."

Gaara was shocked. Deep down inside he had not truly expected the Hokage to allow him to stay. A lifetime of being shunned by people in general had trained him to expect nothing else. Even his own father treated him like a repugnant monster. Yet this man accepted him on sight. It was the most bizarre thing Gaara had ever experienced, and very humbling.

"What will you do here in Konoha?" The aged man inquired, "Yashamaru? If you would be willing to serve as a Konoha ninja, I would be able to assign you two an apartment. I am not trying to pressure you to join our military though, if there is some other job you wish to pursue, that is up to you entirely."

"In Suna I was a member of the medical corps." Yashamaru replied, "If there are any openings, I would be happy to offer my services there."

"Of course, there is always room for another medic." The Hokage said congenially, "Gaara, I understand that in Suna ninja are instructed in an apprenticeship system. Here we have a ninja academy, where one or two chunin instructors teach large numbers of students. Later, the jonin cell leader will provide advanced instruction."

"That will be fine, sir." Gaara said. Yashamaru gave him a bemused look. For all of his life, Gaara had never addressed anyone except his father with any kind of honorific. _Anyone who can take me in, knowing what I am and what I __carry, has more than earned my respect_, Gaara thought to himself. The old man's smile widened, and he seemed as cheery as he had been before the dreary mess of Gaara's life story had been brought up. The Hokage removed a piece of paper from a desk drawer and scribbled a message on it. He folded it neatly and tossed it to Yashamaru, who caught it.

"Give that to my attendant outside," The Hokage instructed, "He will have someone show you to your new residence. I am sure the villagers will do their best to make you feel at home. Welcome to Konoha."

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I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Naruto will be in the next chapter, in case you were wondering. However, I intend to keep the story going from Gaara's POV. Please review. 


	3. Brethren

Hello, everyone. It took me a bit longer than usual to write this chapter. I had to fit a lot more into this chapter than in my other chapters. Some of my reviewers thought my other chapters were a bit short, so this should be a welcome change of pace.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter Three: Brethren**

It had been one month since Gaara and Yashamaru had moved into Konoha. Their escort had shown them to a nice two-bedroom apartment. Gaara had had to suppress a smirk at being shown "his room." Yashamaru would be the only one to do any sleeping. They had not told the Hokage of Gaara's permanent insomnia. In fact, in the six years Gaara had been alive, he had slept only a handful of nights. In an ordinary human, the strain of so many sleepless nights would have been enough to kill. However, Shukaku would never allow his host, and himself, to die from something as petty as sleep deprivation.

During his research, the Kazekage had found that demon hosts often had superhuman powers. Gaara believed that he had accelerated healing because of the Shukaku. Since Gaara had never been injured before, and thus never needed healing, he could not be sure. He could never remember getting sick, and he seemed to tire much more slowly than other people. He knew for a fact that he had much more chakra than both of his siblings combined, but that had been the whole point of implanting the demon in the first place.

Gaara was reclining on the couch in his new home. His finished assignment from the academy lay on the low table in front of the couch. Yashamaru was in the kitchen preparing dinner after coming home from the hospital. He had indeed continued in the medical corps, and he was well liked by his peers. Gaara had not had as much luck. Apart from the fanfare of being a new student from a distant land, and being peppered with a variety of awkward questions about why he had moved to Konoha, the students had more or less left him alone. Gaara did not mind so much, it was much better to be seen as strange than seen as a monster.

So, for the first time, Gaara was content. He could walk down a crowded street and receive smiles rather than frowns. He still had no close companions other than Yashamaru, but Gaara could not remember a better time in his life. Feeling restless, the young redhead got off the couch and wandered into the kitchen. Yashamaru was standing over a pot of soup which was emitting steam. His uncle smiled in greeting, then stirred the soup briefly and went over to a cabinet.

"Can I help, Yashamaru?" Gaara asked.

"As a matter of fact, there is something you can do for me." Yashamaru replied, closing the cabinet with a bemused expression, "It seems we don't have any peppers. This soup will be awfully bland without them. Run to the store for me and buy a few, would you?"

"Sure." Gaara said. He could get to the store faster by jumping from roof to roof, but he felt like a leisurely walk tonight. After a month of carrying his sand around, the weight no longer bothered him. The village did not lose any of its charm at night. The moonlight the buildings gentle shadows, and gave them all a uniform gray color. It reminded Gaara of Suna at night, except that the buildings had a different shape. It was comforting to have the only good memories he had of his home village reflected so well in his new home.

The sun had only just set, so most of the businesses were still open. He could hear voices drift out of open doors. One particularly boisterous voice sounded from the interior of a ramen stall. Gaara thought the voice was somewhat familiar, perhaps one of his classmates from the academy. Finally, he reached the grocery store. He wandered around the place for a time; he was unfamiliar with the store. After a few minutes Gaara found the peppers and began the trek back to his home. Many of the shops on the street had closed while he was inside, and now the streetlights were the primary light sources.

"Demon!"

"Monster!"

"Freak!"

Gaara froze in his tracks. Adrenaline flooded his system, and his heart jumped into his throat. He looked around wildly, trying to find the people who had shouted at him. His hand drifted to his bag's zipper, so that his sand barrier would not break it when it rushed to his defense. Seconds ticked by, and no kunai flew at him, no shuriken whistled past him. His sand did not as much as twitch. Most tellingly, Shukaku had only given a cursory twitch in the back of his mind. Strangely, Gaara could still hear the muffled curses and insults, but no attack came.

_What is going on_, Gaara wondered. He followed the noise to an alleyway near the ramen stand he had passed earlier. Several of the villagers were huddled around something on the ground. Gaara was about to pass it off as some weird sort of game when he a yelp of pain came from their midst. Gaara walked deeper into the alley, cold certainty replacing the fear that had shot down his spine. As he drew nearer, he could see what the men were doing. These villagers, these adults, were beating the life out of a child. _Oh no_, Gaara thought, _I _know_ this kid_.

It was one of his classmates from the academy. His left eye was swollen shut, and there was a cut above his left eyebrow. Blood from the cut streaked his messy blonde hair. His nose was bleeding, maybe broken, and he was cradling his right arm against his body. What struck Gaara most, though, were not the extent of the boy's injuries. It was the look in his undamaged blue eye. There was not one ounce of fear, despite his battered appearance. His gaze was full of rage, and also a gut-wrenching loneliness. It was a look Gaara knew all to well from his own reflection.

Gaara felt a rush of recognition that was not his own. Shukaku had finally taken notice of something, and that something was the battered little blonde child. _Why is Shukaku so interested in him_, Gaara wondered. The boy's good eye caught Gaara watching, and with a sudden rush of certainty, Gaara made the connection. The Hokage's words of a month ago, _I understand better than you think_, the villager's shouts and curses, and the sense of utter certainty that Shukaku was radiating inside his mind. Gaara had never even had a conversation with this child before, but he felt an instant sense of kinship with him. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the boy being thrashed was just like him.

A victim of circumstance. Hated and persecuted for something he could not control. The unwilling jailer of a monster. The recipient of all of the abuse of a village that had caged a demon and no longer wanted it.

Hatred burned in Gaara's blood more intensely than it ever had before. Shukaku roared to the forefront of his mind, and for the first time ever Gaara welcomed it. These ignorant fools were punishing a child for something he had not wanted or asked for. They were stupid. They were evil. Well, now Gaara would introduce them to an even greater evil.

_**It has been so long…Now, make me feel ALIVE!**_

Shukaku's bloodlust and power coursed throughout Gaara's being, begging for use. He complied, raising his right hand and streaming chakra through it. The sand in his bag flew forward and encased the four men in cocoons of sand. Gaara put even more chakra into his arm, and all of his victims floated into the air. The men, who had seemed so threatening before, started to whimper. One of them, to Shukaku's delight, began to beg to be let down. He begged for forgiveness, for mercy.

Gaara began to laugh. It was a chuckle at first, but it gained momentum in his chest until he was laughing like a maniac. _Like a man possessed_, Gaara thought, and he laughed even harder at the thought. He could hear the Shukaku laughing with him. The young demon container curled his fingers, squeezing the villagers in their sand shells, in their sand _coffins_, enough to harm, but not to kill. All of them yelped in surprise and pain. The rest of them joined their friend in begging for their lives. There would be no mercy, no matter how much they blubbered.

Gaara prepared himself for that last small exertion that would end the lives of these monsters. Shukaku's rage beat against him, white hot and as relentless as the desert sun. He would not end their lives quickly, not these repugnant beasts. They deserved to suffer, as they had made their victim suffer. These animals would be given time enough to realize that death was upon them before they were crushed into another bloody memory of Shukaku's sand.

"Cool!"

_Huh?_

_**WHAT?!**_

Gaara looked down in astonishment. The boy had lifted himself into a sitting position, and his gaze was going back and forth between the floating sand coffins and Gaara. Unbelievably, there was a smile on his face. The anger and resentment had faded from his eyes, they were now bright with excitement and curiosity. The redhead was so utterly thrown that he allowed his control to slip, and all of the villagers were dropped unceremoniously to the ground. They promptly ran off screaming. _What the hell is a Nine-Tailed Fox_, Gaara wondered, catching a few words of the fleeing men's cries.

_**NO! BRING THEM BACK! MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE!**_

With an ease Gaara had never experienced, he exerted his will against the Shukaku and forced him back into dormancy. He did not even have a headache. Well, not a bad headache, anyway. The boy he had saved, meanwhile, had not stopped jabbering. _He must be in shock_, Gaara surmised. Then the boy accidentally jostled his arm. He winced in obvious discomfort, but kept talking at the same pace and the same enthusiasm. _Or maybe this is just how he is_, Gaara amended.

"Hey! Hey! Can you teach me that jutsu? Huh? Can you? It was really cool!" the blonde asked insistently. He seemed awfully energetic for someone who was so injured.

"Who are you?" Gaara asked.

"Me? My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Pleased to meet you! What's your name?"

"My name is Gaara." _Not Gaara of the Desert, not anymore_, Gaara reminded himself, "Who were those men who attacked you? We should report them."

"Who knows who they were. This kind of thing happens to me all the time. Most of the time, it's never the same group twice. I don't bother reporting the attacks anymore, because they never do anything about it." Naruto explained. The animated expression he had worn only moments before had been replaced by a downtrodden, miserable look. Gaara wondered, _was that what I looked like, back in Suna_?

"Well," Gaara continued, "we should at least get you to the hospital."

Naruto shook his head, "They just ignore me at the hospital. Besides, there's no need. By tomorrow morning all of these injuries will have healed. That's one reason nobody did anything about my reports. My wounds healed by the time I made a complaint, so they thought I was just making stuff up."

"My uncle is a medic. Come home with me, he'll patch you up." Gaara said. Naruto mumbled his assent, and Gaara helped the battered boy heave himself to his feet. He absentmindedly summoned his sand back into his bag with a burst of chakra. He really had to come up with a better means of transportation for it, the bag was becoming cumbersome. Gaara now had a large mass of sand on one side of his body and an injured academy classmate on the other.

Slowly, they made their way back to Gaara and Yashamaru's apartment. They climbed the stairs to the apartment door, and Gaara realized that he had forgotten his key. He hammered on the door, and he could hear Yashamaru coming to answer it. His uncle opened the door, and his jaw dropped at the sight of his nephew supporting an injured blonde child. He ushered them in quickly, already forming hand seals. Yashamaru's hands began to glow just as Naruto plopped himself on the couch. He noticed that it took much less chakra than it should have to heal the injuries, especially the small bone fractures.

"Oh, I just realized," Naruto said, "I never thanked you for saving me. So, thank you."

"You're welcome." Gaara replied. Naruto grinned at him, and Gaara could not help but grin back. Saving him had given the redhead a warm feeling of pride and accomplishment. It was not something he was used to.

"Nobody's ever stood up for me before," Naruto said, his blue-eyed gaze turning serious, "Other people have seen it happen before, but none of them ever did anything when they saw it was me being beaten. I just wish I knew why so many people hate me."

Yashamaru and Gaara looked at each other. Yashamaru cocked an eyebrow in question, and Gaara nodded in confirmation. Without a word being spoken, The medic was informed of the bizarre situation. _Two_ demon containers in one village. It was completely unexpected. Even more surprising, Naruto did not seem to understand what he was, or what he held within him.

"Naruto, what is the Nine-Tailed Fox? I heard one of the villagers shouting about it while they were running away."

The boy told them the story of what had happened six years earlier. How the demon fox had assaulted the village. How some of the best ninja in Konoha had fallen to its fangs and claws. How the Fourth Hokage had died to destroy the monster at long last. _So that's why he doesn't understand,_ Gaara thought, _he thinks that the demon he contains was destroyed years ago_. Gaara thought he had had it bad in Suna, but at least he had known why he was being persecuted.

For a moment, there was silence as Yashamaru finished healing Naruto's wounds. When he was done, he said, "Well, Naruto, that's it. You are fully healed now."

"Thanks, Yashamaru," Naruto replied, "well, I guess I should get going now. Thanks again for saving me, Gaara."

"Wait, Naruto." Gaara said, trying hard to decide. Would this boy thank him for telling him he had a demon trapped inside of him? He definitely seemed unaware of the evil lurking within him. If Gaara could not feel his own demon writhing around inside of his head, would he want to know it was there? Ignorance is bliss, or so they say. Finally, Gaara said, "There is something I think you should know."

"What's that?"

"…"

"Gaara?"

"I don't think that the Nine-Tailed Fox was killed all of those years ago. I think he was merely…subdued."

"What! Why would you think that? If it isn't dead, then where is it?"

"For you to believe me, I think that I should first tell you a little more about myself." Gaara explained. Yashamaru gave him a surprised look. Gaara had never told anyone of Shukaku before. Everyone in Suna had been warned of what he hosted, and the Hokage had found out from his spies. Yashamaru did not speak, and allowed Gaara to continue.

"As you know, I was born in Suna six years ago. What you don't know is the reason I left." Gaara began, "One month ago, I fled my home village because my father tried to have me assassinated."

"What!" Naruto bellowed, "That's crazy! Why the heck would your own dad try to have you killed? That's messed up."

"He did it," Gaara explained, heavily, "because I couldn't control the monster living inside of me. When I was born, I was implanted with a sand spirit, called the Shukaku. The process killed my mother, and trapped Shukaku inside of me. The intent was to create the world's best ninja. They were marginally successful. I am indeed powerful, especially considering my age. However, I cannot control the demon fully. If I should ever fall asleep, Shukaku would take full control of my body, and he would devour my personality. And even if I don't fall asleep, whenever I fight Shukaku tries to take over so that he can enjoy the bloodshed."

Naruto looked stunned, "So you have a demon inside of you. What does this have to do with me?"

"I think you have a demon inside of you as well. I think you are the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Think about it, that monster cut through legions of ninja and then one man beats it alone?"

"Hey! The Fourth Hokage was the most powerful ninja on the face of the earth! If he couldn't have killed it, who could have? Besides, don't you think someone would have told me by now if I was the container of a demon that powerful?"

"Actually, Naruto," Yashamaru explained forlornly, "You do have the demon within you. After my first day of working at the hospital, the Hokage summoned me. He told me of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and that the Fourth had sealed it inside of you. The Hokage also told me that it was forbidden to speak of the demon, because you were not aware of it being sealed inside of yourself."

"So, then…all of the people the Nine-Tails killed…I…"

"No!" Gaara shouted vehemently, "We are not the demons within us, Naruto! We only contain them! Saying you are the Nine-Tails is no different than calling me the Shukaku! I hear its thoughts all the time, Naruto, and they are nothing I would think of on my own! We are separate entities from those we house. True, they give us strength, they heal our wounds, and they sometimes give us limited protection. But it is only because they are afraid of death. They care nothing for us, so I say we care nothing for them!"

Gaara suddenly realized that this was the closest thing to a speech he had ever given in his life. Yashamaru and Naruto were staring at him. He blushed a red that matched his hair, and looked down at his feet. Shukaku was laughing at him in the back of his mind. The monster didn't care that it had been insulted by its host, it was more than compensated by the warm feeling of Gaara's humiliation.

"So, I have a demon in me." Naruto said, dazedly, "I guess that explains why I heal so fast, and why the villagers hate me so much. But…they're bastards! I didn't ask for this thing. I was less than a day old when it was locked inside of me."

"Naruto, to the villagers in Suna, I was just a relic of a past monster that they wanted to erase and forget. I suspect that it is much the same in your situation. It's no excuse, but I believe that that is what they feel."

Naruto opened his mouth and inhaled, as if to shout a retort, but he let it back out in a rush. He deflated visibly, and he allowed his body to collapse onto a chair near the couch. The blonde rubbed his face with both hands as if trying to draw himself out of a stupor. His blue eyes grew dull with the burden that had been placed upon him, a burden he had been bearing all of his life. A burden he probably would have remained unaware of if Gaara had kept his peace.

_Did I do right or not_, Gaara wondered, _I wish I could tell_. Naruto heaved another great sigh and pushed himself to his feet. He began to pace back and forth across the room, apparently deep in thought. Gaara and Yashamaru tracked his progress in silence, like two people following the ball in a tennis rally.

"Well, to hell with them then!" Naruto barked abruptly, "Knowing the reason they don't like me doesn't change how they treat me. If they're stupid enough to judge me by something I didn't even do, then I don't want anything to do with them."

He nodded to himself, as if agreeing to his own statement, then looked back at Yashamaru and Gaara on the couch. Apparently he had forgotten there were other people in the room, because he looked like someone who had been shoved into a stage spotlight without knowing his lines. He chuckled lightly, and a wide grin split his face. Gaara was not fooled. He could recognize a mask when he saw one, even if it was not one of stoic disinterest like the one he had worn in Suna.

"Thank you for telling me, both of you." Naruto said, "Maybe it won't be so bad now that I know why everyone dislikes me so much. Yashamaru, won't you get in trouble for backing Gaara up when he told me?"

"Are you going to report me?"

"No way!"

"I was just kidding, Naruto. Even if I do get in trouble, I don't mind so much. You deserve to know. I don't regret telling you. If the Hokage should decide to punish me for it, then I shall willingly accept whatever punishment he may give me."

"I might not be so willing to let him punish you, though." Gaara interjected. Yashamaru grinned at him appreciatively. Somehow he had never managed to adjust to the fact that Gaara was so dependent on him.

"Well, it's getting pretty late." Naruto said, "I guess I should get going. Hey, Gaara?"

"Yes?"

"There's a lot of empty seats at the academy, and Iruka-sensei isn't that strict. You wanna sit next to me tomorrow?"

Gaara blinked in surprise. Nobody had ever made any kind of social envoy to him before. People in general tried to avoid him. He suspected that their unconscious minds could sense the predator inside of him, and instinctively shied away. Of course, Naruto also housed a predator. One even greater than Gaara's if Naruto's tale had been accurate. He doubted that even Shukaku could destroy a village the size of Konoha by himself. So in a way, it made sense that Naruto was the only one who seemed able to tolerate him.

"Sure." Gaara replied. Naruto's face once again broke out in a grin. This one, though, was not to mask the sorrow he was feeling. This one was genuine, and Gaara could not help but reciprocate.

"Cool! Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Gaara! Later, Yashamaru!"

And with that boisterous farewell, Naruto spun on his heel and ran out of the door. Gaara stared at the spot his fellow container had just vacated, as if trying to blink a sunspot from his vision. Yashamaru went back to the kitchen to add the peppers Gaara had gotten from the store. The redhead himself remained on the couch, trying to absorb what had just happened. _Did I just make a friend_?

* * *

There you have it, the long anticipated meeting of the demon containers. Please review! 


	4. Graduation

I apologize for my tardiness, but school is back in full swing now and finals are approaching. The next chapter will probably take even longer than this one did.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

* * *

**Chapter Four: Graduation**

Gaara walked down the streets of Konoha toward the academy for daily classes, his bag of sand slung across his shoulder. Today was no ordinary day. The academy was having its annual genin exams. Naruto had talked of nothing else for weeks. Gaara had mixed feelings about it. As their education in the ninja arts had progressed, one thing had become painfully clear to the two friends. Gaara, for whatever reason, was a genius. Naruto, for whatever reason, was not. Gaara could learn new techniques in mere days, sometimes even hours, and his written scores were near the top of his class. Naruto had much more difficulty. Gaara had spent many nights in Naruto's apartment helping his fellow demon container keep up with the rest of the class.

When the gap had started to form, Gaara had been terrified. He had worried that Naruto would grow to resent him for being a better student. For a short time, Gaara had begun getting lower marks on purpose to try and stay at Naruto's level. Gaara had lasted less than a week before he had been found out. Naruto had been furious. He had roared at Gaara to never, _ever_ hold himself back for him. It was one of the few things Gaara had ever seen the blonde truly angry about. One of Naruto's greatest principals was to always try to attain your dream. He tolerated being spit upon more than he did people sacrificing their happiness for him. It was one of the qualities Gaara found admirable in him. It was also why exam day gave him a little twinge of guilt.

If Gaara had given his honest effort into passing the exam, he would have been out of the academy within a year. But that would have meant leaving his best and only friend behind. It was a sacrifice Gaara was not willing to make. So, every year, Gaara faked nervousness and threw the examination. And, every year, Gaara lied to Naruto's face about it. He truly hated to do it, but he felt justified every time he saw Naruto after he failed his exam. No matter how poor his grades or how much he struggled with lessons, Naruto was always one-hundred percent confident that he would succeed. When he failed, as he had every year for the past six years, it was like an eclipse of the sun. His usual hyperactive enthusiasm was replaced by a lethargic depression that disturbed Gaara more than Shukaku's murderous impulses. Fortunately, Naruto always bounced back quickly and was his chipper self after a few hours.

"Morning Gaara!"

The redhead was jerked from his musings, and looked up just in time to see a blur of orange crash to the ground beside him. Naruto had leapt onto the ground from the single-story rooftop to Gaara's left. He was always doing things like that. It chilled Gaara's blood every time he saw it, but Naruto seemed unconcerned. He healed from every injury he received in a single day, less if the wound was superficial.

"I wish you wouldn't do that."

"Ah, you worry too much."

They finished the walk to the academy in companionable silence. When they got there the room was over halfway full. Iruka was seated behind his desk doing paperwork. Most of the students had scrolls out. Some had paired up with friends and were helping each other study. Near the top row, a pink haired girl and a blonde were screeching at each other over the head of a dark haired boy. Gaara had to admire the boy's ability to keep a straight face with all of that going on so close to his head. Naruto and Gaara ascended the steps to the top row of desks and took their seats. Gaara withdrew a scroll from his bag, and began quizzing Naruto on basic ninjutsu.

An hour later, Iruka stood up and said, "Attention everyone! The examination will begin now. You will all be called up in alphabetical order and given a chance to show your readiness to be Konoha ninja. If you are able to perform the jutsu Mizuki-sensei and I specify to our satisfaction, then you graduate. If you are unable, then you must study for another year at the academy before you can try again. Good luck, everybody. Choji, you're first."

Gaara was thankful for the alphabetical order in which the test was conducted. Since he had no last name, he was the last student to take the test. This meant that he could find out whether or not Naruto had passed the exam before he had to enter the testing room. Naruto was second to last to go, so Gaara had plenty of time to psych him up and hopefully get him ready to pass. Gaara didn't mind failing the exam, but being taught the same thing year after year was obscenely boring. It was something he could handle, but he would be glad when it was over with.

An hour later, Iruka stuck his head through the doorway and called, "Naruto Uzumaki! Your turn!"

Naruto gave Gaara a confident smile and a thumbs up before bounding down the stairs and through the door. Judging by his face, there was not even a sliver of doubt in his mind. That had been the case every exam day for the past six years. Gaara closed his eyes and allowed himself a moment of brutal self honesty: Naruto was going to fail again. He was _close_, very close. But close wouldn't cut it with Iruka judging the examinees. The chunin would never allow an academy student to become a genin unless they were fully prepared to face the deadly circumstances that their job put them in.

Gaara stretched out with his senses and easily spotted Naruto. No matter what basic skills the boy struggled with, he had a monstrous amount of chakra. It was a good thing he did, otherwise he would never be able to practice his jutsu so many times in a row. He could feel Naruto's confidence in the brilliance of his chakra signature. Then it abruptly became panicked. _They must be testing the bunshin technique, it's his worst one_, Gaara surmised. He sighed, _it looks like I'll be benefiting from another year of education in the way of the ninja_.

Naruto exited the room, and he looked crushed. His shoulders were slumped, his head was down, and his body language suggested that it was a struggle just to keep walking. Gaara got up and descended the staircase. When he reached Naruto's position, he could see that the boy's face was blank. Gaara gave him a conciliatory pat on the shoulder, he knew anything else would be rubbing salt into the wound, and went into the room Naruto had vacated. There was only a table in the center with an array of headbands on it. Iruka and Mizuki were seated behind the table, both held clipboards.

Iruka looked up at him and smiled encouragingly. Gaara rather like Iruka. He was always tough on Naruto's misbehavior, but Gaara could tell that it was because he cared. Half of the times Naruto dragged Gaara to Ichiraku, Iruka would accompany them. The chunin instructor was the only person born in Konoha who Gaara had ever seen treat Naruto with respect and kindness. The redhead suspected that Iruka knew all about his little deceptions on examination day, and he did Gaara the incredible favor of not saying a word about it. They both knew that Naruto had few friends, and that he needed them all after a crushing defeat such as another failed graduation exam.

Mizuki also looked up from his clipboard and said, "Okay, Gaara, in order to pass the test you need to make three perfect copies of yourself using the _bunshin no jutsu_. Take your time, and begin whenever you are ready."

Gaara made a show of gulping in feigned nervousness. He took several deep breaths he did not need to calm himself, then carefully formed each hand seal when he could have done them in his sleep. He formed his chakra with the assistance of the hand seals, but adjusted it _just so_ to cause the technique to fail catastrophically.

"_Bunshin no jutsu_." Gaara murmured. There was a poof of smoke, and a few muffled pops. When the smoke cleared, two bleach-white blobs vaguely shaped like humans were lying on the floor. Iruka sighed, informed Gaara that he had failed, and wished him better luck next year before dismissing him. Gaara pretended to slump in disappointment and skulk out of the room. When he emerged from the doorway, Naruto looked up from his desk hopefully. Gaara gave him a negative shake of the head, and the blonde slumped in his seat again. The room was empty except for Naruto. All of the other students had left to celebrate their graduation.

* * *

Gaara and Naruto sat on a one of their favorite rooftops, watching the sunset. Today had gone much as the last six exam days had gone, just as Gaara had predicted it would. Naruto, the most hyperactive and talkative person Gaara knew, had not spoken one word in the past ten hours. They had eaten a silent lunch at Ichiraku, and that had been the extent of their activity. The redhead had hoped that his favorite food would have cheered Naruto up at least a little. It had not, his sour mood had lasted all day. 

Gaara did not mind the inactivity, or the silence. Naruto was very resilient, after a good night's sleep his usual self confidence would be back. Gaara was glad for it, seeing his friend like this was disturbing.

"Hello Naruto, Gaara."

Both boys looked over their shoulders to see who had addressed them. It was Mizuki, his long silver hair was blowing in the afternoon breeze. He was smiling gently at them. He was probably going to try and cheer them up. Gaara could not think of a polite way to tell him that his condolences would fall on deaf ears, so he kept his silence.

"Listen, you two," Mizuki said, "I know how hard you've been trying to graduate all of these years. I think the two of you have real talent, you are just bad test takers. The system isn't flexible enough to account for the different manifestations of skill that can show up in a person."

If the chunin had hoped for a reaction from the boys, he was disappointed. Naruto and Gaara watched him impassively, not speaking a word in response. Mizuki seemed somewhat taken aback at the cool fashion in which his speech was being received. There was something about the looks they were giving him that unnerved him at an animal level. But he had planned for far too long to back down now, so he plowed on.

"Of course, the Hokage is aware of this deficiency. So he set up an auxiliary test for students who are not suited to the demonstration of skills that is standard procedure. It is a mock mission, more specifically a retrieval mission."

Naruto sat up straighter, his interest was clearly piqued. Gaara was glad to see that his friend was recovering, but he remained wary. Something did not seem right about Mizuki's story. The sort of coddling he was describing did not seem fitting of shinobi. Gaara knew that the Hokage was a kind man, but he did not seem like the type to allow a student to bypass the set rules.

"You must sneak into Hokage tower. In the deepest basement, there is a storeroom with scrolls containing the secrets of our village. One of them is secured even more heavily than the others, and it is _that _scroll that you must steal. It is called the sacred scroll, and it contains all of the most forbidden and dangerous techniques Konoha has gathered over the years. In order to pass, you must steal the scroll and learn one technique from it by midnight."

A hopeful smile lit up Naruto's face, but Gaara's reservations had become severe. Not only were two _kids_ who had not even managed to pass the genin exam supposed to be entrusted with the most important scroll in the village, but they were supposed to master a _forbidden _technique in only a matter of hours. _This is no test_, Gaara thought, _it's a setup_. The redhead suspected that Mizuki simply wanted the scroll for himself, but did not want to risk being caught trying to get it. If Naruto and Gaara were caught trying to steal it, then he had plausible deniability. The two of them would be punished and he would get away scot-free.

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto shouted, "Another chance! Naruto Uzumaki isn't out of the running just yet!"

Apparently, Naruto had no reservations at all. Gaara frowned, but kept his peace. If he was wrong, then soon they would both be genin. If he was right, they could eliminate a traitor to the village, and they might become genin just for that. His decision made, Gaara decided to hold his silence and follow Naruto through this trial.

"Hey, Gaara!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically, "Let's go and get that scroll now!"

* * *

"Yes! Mission accomplished!" 

Gaara and Naruto stood in the clearing in the forest. It was the place Mizuki had designated as a rendezvous point. At midnight he would come to check on them, and if they had not learned a technique from the sacred scroll, then they would fail the test. Unless, of course, Gaara's instincts were right and Mizuki was simply trying to steal the scroll. Then he would crush him, and he and Naruto would have to throw themselves on the Hokage's mercy.

While Gaara was musing, Naruto had already opened the scroll and was reading furiously. When he finished with the first passage, he cried, "Damn! An offshoot of my least favorite jutsu _would_ be the first one in here!"

He unceremoniously dropped the scroll, ran to the other side of the clearing to give Gaara some room, and began to practice his technique. Gaara picked up the scroll, vaguely troubled by the fact that Naruto would treat such an important object so carelessly, and opened it for himself. _Trap this may be, but there's no reason not to gain anything from it,_ Gaara thought. He read the part Naruto had complained about, and had to smile. It was the _kage bunshin no jutsu_, and unlike the ordinary _bunshin no jutsu,_ the doppelgangers it created were solid flesh and blood. It also required a huge amount of chakra to create each clone and remain in fighting form. If anyone could use the technique to its full extent, it would be Naruto. The blonde had so much chakra it practically burst from his pores.

Gaara had a lot of chakra too, but he could use his sand to make a clone of himself if he needed an extra body. He continued to read the scroll, but he could not find a technique that called out to him. No doubt, there were some radically powerful attacks to be learned from the scroll, but none of them seemed to be suited to him. There was one interesting jutsu at the end that spoke of a death god, but the death of the wielder made Gaara shy away from it. Disappointed, the redhead carefully rewrapped the scroll and strapped it to his back.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu_!" Naruto shouted.

It was in this moment that Gaara realized something fundamental about Naruto. Most people, including Gaara himself, had thought that Naruto's inability to master the _bunshin no jutsu_ was the result of a lack of talent. They were all wrong. It was not that Naruto could not master the jutsu. The technique was just too flimsy to withstand the amount of chakra Naruto unconsciously forced into every move he used. The clearing was full of dozens of copies of Naruto. Every one of them was leaping around and whooping in victory. _Forty-five, forty-six…damn, I lost count_, Gaara thought, completely floored by what he was seeing, _no other human would be able to make that many shadow clones and be able to move afterward_.

Naruto dispelled his clones in another blast of smoke and ran over to Gaara. He shouted jovially, "Hey, Gaara! Let me see that scroll again, I want to learn another jutsu!"

"Sorry boys, time's up!"

Gaara and Naruto turned at the unexpected, familiar voice. It was not the voice Gaara had anticipated. Iruka leapt from the tree he had been standing in to the ground. The scarred chunin was visibly angry, his face was slightly flushed and a vein was throbbing in his temple.

"NARUTO! GAARA! HOW DARE YOU NOT ONLY BREAK INTO HOKAGE TOWER, BUT ALSO STEAL THE SACRED SCROLL WITH ALL OF KONOHA'S MOST FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUES!" Iruka bellowed at the two. Naruto cowered, but Gaara only winced. It only confirmed what he had suspected: Mizuki was a traitor.

"Iruka-sensei, we didn't do this for fun. Mizuki-sensei told us that we could become genin if we could learn a technique from the scroll." Gaara said. Iruka froze mid-yell. He stared at Gaara in horrified disbelief. Despite the fact that Gaara had often accompanied Naruto during his frequent pranks, the redhead retained the respect of his teachers by taking whatever punishment was dealt to him without complaint.

"It's true, Iruka." Another male voice said from beyond the clearing.

Mizuki stepped out from the shadows of the forest. He no longer looked the part of the kindly academy instructor. His gray eyes were as cold as liquid nitrogen, his face was set in a smirk of contempt. He also had several oversized shuriken on his back, and a kunai was in his left hand. His gaze was as detached as a mortician's as he looked the three over, but grew intense with greed when his eyes landed on Gaara and saw the scroll on his back.

"Mizuki! What is the meaning of this?" Iruka demanded, "Why did you lie to these two boys?"

"It seems I've overestimated you, Iruka. It should be fairly obvious why I did it. I want the scroll for myself!" Mizuki said condescendingly, "I'm going to get as much power as I can from that scroll, and then I'm going to be the new leader of Konoha!"

"What! You lied to us?" Naruto asked, "We don't get to be ninja?"

"No you don't, Naruto. But here's a consolation prize: give me the scroll right now and you don't need to die."

"I decline. In case you have forgotten how to count, there are three of us and only one of you, Mizuki-sensei." Gaara said evenly, "Surrender to us, and we will not injure you."

"That's a laugh." Mizuki snarled back, "You've forfeited your chance, and your lives!"

In a blur of motion, the silver haired chunin launched one of his oversized shuriken at Naruto. At Naruto, who was halfway across the clearing where Gaara could not possibly send sand fast enough. He tried anyway, the zipper of his bag tearing open as his sand was flung toward the blonde, but far too slowly. Iruka was fast enough, though, and the shuriken that would have buried itself in Naruto's head instead dug into Iruka's back. He howled in pain, but the wound was not fatal. It gave Gaara's sand enough time to shield the two from the barrage of kunai that followed the first attack.

It also gave Gaara enough time to get angry. Long years of control kept the Shukaku at bay as he cried for blood. The surge of chakra that accompanied Shukaku's attention was used to destabilize the tree Mizuki was standing in. He was too experienced a ninja to land on anything but his feet, if he had been allowed to land on the ground. Before he was even within a foot of the ground, He was encased from head to toe in sand. Gaara compressed the sand _hard_, and heard the unmistakable crack of wood. He allowed the sand to fall and saw only wood splinters. Mizuki had used the art of substitution to escape at the last second.

Gaara's sand barrier shot up to intercept an enormous fireball that lanced from the tree line. At the same time, Mizuki charged forward threw a handful of shuriken at Naruto and Iruka. Gaara was able to warp the sand he had used to protect them just in time to take the hits. Iruka had collapsed onto his chest, he appeared to be unconscious. Mizuki was rapidly spewing a chain of small fireballs at both Gaara and the fallen chunin. Although the silver haired traitor was beginning to show signs of fatigue, Gaara could not risk attacking him for fear of slipping in the defense of his comrades.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu_!"

Most jonin could only generate a handful of shadow clones at one time, or they would be in danger of chakra depletion. Following that logic, it was not completely impossible that someone with an extremely powerful demon inside of them would be able to handle creating several dozen shadow clones and still have chakra left in reserve. Gaara might have been able to do it. Maybe. What the redhead was seeing now, _that_ was impossible. Naruto had to be using some sort of illusion in conjunction with the _kage bunshin no jutsu_.

He had to be, because there was no way Naruto could have made enough shadow clones to fill the entire clearing and the trees around it. The fact that Gaara could sense chakra emanating from every body was merely a testament to the power of the illusion. No human could possibly make more than a hundred shadow clones at once, and there were _a lot_ more than one hundred shadow clones around him. Then all of them leapt at Mizuki. The first few were dispatched by the chunin's frenzied attacks, then he was lost in a sea of orange jumpsuits, flailing limbs, and blonde hair.

Gaara heard Mizuki scream, he heard bones being broken. He saw the ground being churned by the feet of hundreds of solid bodies. And he had to accept the truth. Naruto, the academy dropout, the prankster, the boy who had taken a week just to be able to hit the broad side of a tree with a kunai, had generated what had to be hundreds of shadow clones and was beating the life out of a chunin. This astonishing discovery was followed by another, far more troubling one: Naruto was not stopping. Mizuki had to be comatose from all of the blows he had taken, but Naruto was not calling off the attack.

_I regret every murder I committed while Shukaku was exerting his control over me_, Gaara thought, _I'm sure Naruto will regret killing Mizuki later, even if it was to defend Iruka_. His mind made up, the redhead reached out with his chakra to the ground beneath the tremendous pile of clones. With a tremendous outpouring of energy, Gaara caused huge chunks of the ground to fly in the air as if a landmine had exploded. Many of the shadow clones were destroyed, and Mizuki was flung into a tree. He was a bloody mess. Both of his eyes were swollen shut, and his left arm was bent at an unnatural angle. Every single Naruto in the clearing swiveled their eyes to Gaara. Gaara stared right back at them. Slowly, the murderous anger drained from their faces. By twos and threes, the clones began to dispel until only the real Naruto was left. He had not participated in the thrashing of Mizuki, but had remained at the side of the fallen Iruka.

For a long moment, the two demon containers said nothing. They stared at each other, aware of the gravity of what had just happened. Then Iruka began to stir and groan as he regained consciousness. The two boys helped their instructor into a sitting position. Wearily, the chunin reached back and pulled the giant shuriken from his back with a grunt. He saw Mizuki hanging in the tree, and his jaw dropped.

"Did you two do that to him?" He asked, amazed.

"It was mostly Naruto." Gaara replied.

"That's bull." Naruto interjected, "You saved us from a ton of Mizuki's attacks before I clobbered him."

"Very impressive." A new voice said.

The Hokage strolled casually into the clearing. Three ANBU trailed behind him. Two detached Mizuki from the tree and carried him away, doubtlessly to be interrogated. The third put Iruka's arm around his shoulder and lifted him to his feet.

"You two have shown tremendous talent in the ninja arts tonight." The old man said, pride evident in his voice, "I think that in light of tonight's events, we can ignore your failed examinations earlier today. I also think we shall ignore the fact that you stole the sacred scroll from the tower archives."

Naruto and Gaara grinned at each other sheepishly. The Hokage chuckled, and reached into his cloak to removed two pristine Konoha headbands. He handed one to Gaara and the other to Naruto. "Congratulations," he said, "you are now officially genin of Konoha."

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for your patience. Please review. 


	5. Team Seven

I apologize for the long wait. School is getting very busy right now, finals are next week. In any event, here it is: the much anticipated formation of Team 7. However, I must offer one word of warning. I do not like Sakura very much. That doesn't mean I'm going to turn her into a mentally stunted bitch, but I'm not going to go very in depth with her either. In my opinion, she doesn't become a very good character until after the time skip. **I AM NOT TRYING TO OFFEND ANYONE. IF I HAVE, I APOLOGIZE.**

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter Five: Team Seven**

Gaara sat at his kitchen table, drinking the tea he had brewed for himself. It was five o'clock in the morning, and Konoha was still clinging to the last vestiges of night. The young ninja stared at his reflection in the tea, and thought about what was going to happen that day. With their defeat of Mizuki, Naruto and Gaara had been granted genin status. Today, they would report to the academy for the last time to be assigned their cell leaders and teammates.

For the first time in a long time, Gaara felt anxious. During his time at the academy, he had been able to control whether or not he would be separated from Naruto. The team assignments, though, were written by the Hokage himself, and could not be changed. Gaara did not want to be separated from his friend. Since Gaara had come to Konoha six years previously, the two had been inseparable. It was like splitting up twins and sending them to live with separate families. The young demon container's thoughts were interrupted when Yashamaru walked into the room.

"Good morning, Gaara."

"Good morning, Yashamaru."

This was how most mornings for the past six years had gone. Gaara would occupy himself during his sleepless nights, and then make tea early in the morning. Yashamaru would get up to prepare for his shift at the hospital, and make breakfast. Gaara might be able to crush a cinderblock to dust with his sand, but cooking remained a problem for him. These mornings were something special for the two former Suna ninja. Yashamaru was home in the afternoon, but oftentimes Naruto accompanied Gaara home from the academy. It was in these hours before the start of the day that the two were able to spend quality time together.

Yashamaru was a morning person, unlike Naruto. As such, he was alert enough to spot Gaara's pet project of the last few nights leaning in a corner. "What is that?" he asked.

Gaara smirked and looked affectionately at his creation. Over the past few nights, Gaara had been saturating his sand with even more of his chakra in the hopes that he could gain more control of it. Other than a small increase in the speed of his sand's response to his will, there had been no change until the previous night. During the fight with Mizuki, Gaara had broken the duffel bag he had been lugging his sand in for the past six years. As such, a new mode of transportation was called for. After hours of meditation and visualization, the sand had finally molded itself to his will.

What leaned in the corner was a gourd constructed entirely of sand. It was larger that Gaara's torso, and there was a corked hole at the top. Gaara had also laid a sash on top of it, which he intended to use to strap the gourd to his back. It was one of a few ideas Gaara had for his sand-based techniques. "The bag I was using clashed horribly with my outfit." Gaara replied, jokingly, "One must do ones best to remain in style, don't you agree?"

"Indeed." Yashamaru said, grinning. Pale light was beginning to filter through the window as the sun began to rise. He got up from the table and began to prepare breakfast. While his uncle was busy, Gaara picked up his headband, which had been sitting in the middle of the table. He had been trying to figure out where to put it for the past hour. He looked ridiculous with it on his forehead, and on his limbs, it restricted his freedom of movement. About a year ago, he had seen one jonin who wore it like a belt around his waist. It was not precisely what Gaara wanted, but it gave him an idea.

He stood up and walked over to where his gourd was leaning. He picked up the sash, and strapped the sand container to his back. It was as heavy as it had ever been, but over the years, Gaara had developed the strength to be able to move in spite of the weight. _I should have done this years ago_, he thought, pleased at how much easier it was to move with the gourd on his back. Then, the redhead picked up his headband and tied it to the sash. It was inconspicuous and out of the way.

Perfect.

"Very nice." Yashamaru said, "With that thing on your back, you look very intimidating."

"I do try to keep up appearances." Gaara replied, smirking. He laughed abruptly, suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that at last he was a real ninja, and so was his friend. Yashamaru smiled with him. It was so rare that Gaara was in such a good mood that it showed that it was almost impossible not to be pulled along.

"Good morning, everybody!"

The two turned to the open kitchen window to see that Naruto was wedged into the frame. Gaara laughed again. It was the first time in living memory that the blonde had woken up voluntarily before eight o'clock. Usually, Naruto woke up every morning the way a bear woke up from hibernation. Apparently, the excitement of graduating at long last had given him even more energy than he normally had.

"Well now, Naruto," Yashamaru said, "I thought it would take at least a small explosive tag to wake you up at seven o'clock."

"I'm just so excited! I only got a few hours of sleep last night."

"I hope that doesn't slow you down, a ninja must always be prepared after all."

"Ah, don't worry about it. We demon boys don't need a lot of sleep." Naruto said, winking at Gaara. The redhead merely snorted in reply. Naruto took everything so lightly, it was almost impossible to take offense at the borderline affronts he threw out occasionally. Yashamaru laughed and put breakfast on the table. The three of them ate their breakfast while Naruto loudly speculated about what kinds of top secret, dangerous missions they would be sent on. Gaara smiled at his friend's enthusiasm, but he knew that most likely they would be sent on low ranked, boring missions for some time before they got any truly interesting ones. Yashamaru caught Gaara's eye, and the two had to stifle their laughter at the blonde's ramblings.

"-definitely be the Hokage in a couple of years! Oh, hey, it's time to go! Bye, Yashamaru. Come on Gaara!"

The redhead bid his uncle farewell, and followed Naruto out of the apartment. The energetic boy continued his litany of predicted glories all the way to the academy, where their classroom was full of the other students who had graduated. The place was a riot of noise as the new shinobi excitedly discussed their futures. Naruto and Gaara took seats near the top of the room, the blonde in an aisle seat and Gaara to his right.

A classmate of theirs turned in his seat and regarded the two in mixed contempt and shock. "Hey, you two, only the students who graduated are supposed to be here today."

"We did graduate," Naruto replied, somewhat heatedly, "can't you see the headbands?"

The boy turned back around and said no more, not caring enough to continue the borderline argument. Naruto huffed and looked away, and his face instantly transformed from miffed to smitten when he saw who was next to him. Sakura Haruno was standing right next to him, and she was looking at him expectantly. A shy smile was on her face as she tucked a loose strand of pink hair behind her ear. Naruto had fallen hard for her the moment he had laid eyes on her. It was for this reason, at least in Gaara's estimation, that the blonde failed to notice that Sakura was not looking at him with that pleasant expression. When her gaze did drop to Naruto, her face became clouded with annoyance and anger.

"Get out of the way, Naruto! I'm trying to get past you."

"Aw, man."

Without another word, she pushed past the two demon containers towards the object of her affection. Gaara would never understand why Naruto was so smitten with Sakura, even if she was one of the prettiest girls in the class. She always treated him like trash, just like most of the other villagers. Judging by the way Sakura treated the boy she liked; Gaara could not understand why Naruto did not feel relieved. A few seats down, Sasuke Uchiha was sitting as silent and immobile as a statue. He did not so much as flinch when Sakura sat next to him, gave him a shy hello, and began looking at him furtively.

Naruto was even less subtle in expressing his feelings. He leaned forward in his seat and glowered at Sasuke. The dark haired boy, always alert to threats, turned his head and stared coldly back at the blonde. For one long moment, the Uchiha assessed Naruto as a hunter measured his prey. Apparently, Naruto was found lacking because Sasuke moved his head back to its previous position and resumed staring at the door, waiting for Iruka to enter the room. The blonde growled in the back of his throat at being dismissed and hopped onto Sasuke's desk, moving his face within an inch of the other boy's face and glaring even harder than he had been before. Gaara opened his mouth to caution Naruto against it, but decided not to. He knew when Naruto could not be dissuaded from something, and now was one of those times.

Gaara caught movement in the corner of his eye, and his gut told him that something very, _very_ wrong was about to happen. The movement was a boy in the row ahead of them getting to his feet. In the process, he slid his chair back and directly into Naruto's rump. The blonde was caught off guard and lost his balance. He tipped forward, and to his horror, he realized that he would not be able to avoid what was going to happen next. The gap between his face and Sasuke's closed, and their lips met. For one frozen moment of silence, everyone stared in complete and utter shock. It lasted only a fraction of a second before the two boys sprang apart, gagging, spitting, and swearing to kill each other.

Nearly everyone began roaring in laughter. None of them particularly liked Naruto, but they had always laughed at his better pranks. Gaara looked away and held his breath, squeezing his eyes shut. He did not want to compound his friend's humiliation by joining in with the laughter. He looked up to see that Sakura's face was ominous. It was not clouded with laughter, but with rage. She snarled Naruto's name and raised her fist with the clear intention of beating the snot out of the miserable boy. Gaara felt that this was a bit much.

The redhead sent a thin tendril of sand out of his gourd. It wrapped itself around Sakura's wrist mid-punch, jerking her arm to a halt. She looked first at her hand, then at Gaara when she saw the sand holding her in place. Everyone in Konoha knew about his sand barrier, an inevitable result of being in communal taijutsu classes. He had explained it away as a protective jutsu his father had placed on him to safeguard him from assassins. He had been excused from all sparring matches as a result, although he was still obligated to learn proper form. However, only Naruto knew that Gaara could use his sand for offense as well as defense.

"Don't." Gaara told Sakura, his voice as cold as a desert night. Naruto might take his physical abuse rather flippantly, but Gaara found it much less easy to tolerate. The atmosphere in the room went from light and amused to dead serious within the space in a second. The tension was broken when Iruka finally entered the classroom. He looked at the cluster of people everyone was staring at, and saw that intervention was needed.

"All right, everyone break it up! Back to your seats!"

Gaara his sand shackle to dissipate, and Sakura gratefully retreated to her seat. Everyone who had been watching groaned in disappointment and returned to their seats as well. Once all of the students were back in their desks, Iruka continued his final lecture to them all.

"From this day forward, you are no longer mere students of ninjutsu, but fully fledged ninja. However, among the ranks of the ninja, you are mere novices, the lowest of the low. Your greatest challenges all lie ahead." Iruka said in his strong voice. His words seemed to resonate within the minds of all of his former students. Spines straightened and anticipation glowed warmly in many eyes.

"The next step is assigning you all official duties on behalf of our village. We will begin by dividing you into three man cells, each of which will be overseen by a jonin instructor who will guide and coach you as you become familiar with your various assignments. Oh, yes, since the number of students who graduated was uneven, there will be one four-man cell. Now then, here are the teams."

Iruka began reading off team numbers and the names of the genin in them. Gaara's anxiousness from earlier in the morning returned to him tenfold. He glanced at Naruto, who was watching Iruka with eager anticipation. The redhead wondered if the other demon container was even capable of dread. _Probably not_, he thought, _he doesn't have the attention span_.

"Alright, the next cell is team seven. The members are Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Gaara."

Naruto let out a mad whoop of celebration. Not only was he in the same cell as his crush, but his best friend was with him as well. Gaara let out a celebratory shout of his own, and put his friend in a headlock. Naruto reciprocated, it was the closest thing to a hug they could come to without being awkward. Sakura looked cheerful as well. She could put up with the other two is she was with Sasuke. The Uchiha himself, predictably, remained still as a statue. He did not react at all to his assignment.

"Okay, that's everyone. Your jonin instructors should be here shortly to collect you and introduce themselves. I don't know how long it might take some of them to arrive, so please wait here. This is probably the last time I'll see some of you. I'm very proud of you all, and I'm sure you will all make excellent ninja. Goodbye."

Over the next hour, many of the students were collected by their instructors. One jonin with a dark beard and a cigarette took a blonde who had been fighting over Sasuke with Sakura, along with two boys. A female jonin who wore clothes that seemed to be made of bandages collected a dark haired girl and two boys, one of whom had a white puppy on his head. Finally, only the members of team seven were left in the classroom. It was after another hour had passed that they began to grow restless.

Naruto ran to the classroom door and suck his head out. He looked down both ends of the hall, then sighed in disappointment and closed the door. It was the third time he had done it in the past quarter of an hour. Gaara seriously considered fixing his feet to the floor with sand, but he would probably just gnaw them off and heal anyway. He was about to tell Naruto to relax when Sakura beat him to the punch.

"Cut it out, Naruto!"

"Why is it we're the only ones still waiting for our sensei? Everyone else has already gone off with their sensei. Even the janitor has already been and gone."

His face was glum as he spoke, but suddenly an evil grin split his face. It was an expression Gaara knew all too well. It was Naruto's prank face. Still grinning, he dragged a stool to the door. He ran over to the chalk board and got an eraser. He clambered onto the stool, then used the door to wedge the eraser against the doorframe. Now nobody could enter the room without being hit with the eraser.

"Grow up." Sakura said. Her tone was condescending, but Gaara could sense humming anticipation in her chakra signature. _What a two-faced liar she is_, Gaara thought amusedly.

"There's no way a jonin will fall for such an inane trick like that." Sasuke muttered disgustedly. Gaara had to agree. Jonin were the shinobi elite, with the sharpest senses and strongest jutsu in the village. It seemed unlikely that a ninja of that rank would fall victim to such a simple trick. Then the door opened, and the eraser bounced off of a very familiar head of silver hair in a puff of chalk dust.

Gaara's knew their instructor, it was Kakashi. This man had escorted him to the Hokage when he had first arrived in Konoha. He did not appear to have changed much in six years, but that was hard to tell when three quarters of his face was obscured. Something that Gaara was sure of was that the innate sense of power he had felt when they had first met had not diminished at all. His visible eye gazed thoughtfully at the eraser that had just struck him, then looked up at the group of genin before him. Naruto was laughing raucously, Sakura was making timid apologies, and Sasuke looked contemptuously at the silver-haired jonin.

Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile. He hummed thoughtfully, then said, "Well now, how should I put this? Based on my first impression…**I hate you!**"

Gaara snorted in amusement. Kakashi told them to meet him on the roof, and then he used a teleportation jutsu to vanish in a puff of smoke. Everyone but Gaara looked stricken, their sensei's sudden shift from cheery to threatening had unnerved them. They left the classroom and ascended the stairwell at the end of the hallway. Kakashi was leaning against the railing, he watched them lazily as they arrayed themselves in a semicircle and sat down before him.

"Now, I'd like you all to tell us a little about yourselves." the jonin said.

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shrugged, "You know, the usual stuff. Your favorite thing, what you hate the most, dreams hobbies, ambitions…that sort of thing."

"Why don't you go first." Sakura requested, "After all, you're a complete mystery to us."

"Oh…me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to talk about his likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future are none of your business…but anyway, I have lots of hobbies. Now it's your turn. Let's start with you…Gaara isn't it?"

All of Gaara's teammates looked somewhat put out. The elder ninja had said a lot, but he had not revealed anything. It did not surprise the redhead that much. Someone who hid their face from his students would probably not be very open about his personal life with them either.

"Very well," Gaara said, "my name is Gaara. I used to live in Suna, but I live here with my uncle now. I like the rain, the result of being raised in a desert, and I hate people who judge others without knowing them. I don't really think about the future, and my only real hobby is spending time with friends."

Kakashi nodded, then motioned Naruto to go next. Predictably, he began chattering at a steady gallop. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! What I like is instant cup ramen, and I like going to Ichiraku Ramen with Iruka-sensei and Gaara. My least favorite thing is the time it takes for the water to boil before I can add the ramen. My dream is to someday become the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen, that way the villagers will have to acknowledge me!"

Gaara noted that everyone had begun to doze off after the second time Naruto said "ramen", but his dream had surprised them. It was an unusual dream. Many people dreamt of being great ninja, but few ever actually tried to become Hokage.

"Next!" Kakashi said.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are plenty of things I hate, but I don't see how it matters since there is so little that I do like. It seems pointless to me to talk about dreams, that's just a word. What I do have is an ambition: to restore my clan…and also, there is a certain man I have sworn to kill."

Silence greeted the Uchiha scion's words. Gaara noted that Kakashi seemed unsurprised by the boy's proclamation. He did not comment on it, though. "And finally, our young lady." The silver-haired jonin said.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My favorite thing is not a thing, per se, it's a person. A boy, and that boy is…let's just move on to my dream."

At the end of every sentence, Sakura would look at Sasuke, blush madly, and trail off into giggles. It made Gaara want to bury his face in his hands, but he resisted the impulse. All childish embarrassment suddenly faded from the pink-haired girl's face. Gaara looked up in interest. Maybe she would actually say something worth listening to this time.

"I hate Naruto!"

"What!"

Naruto's face crumpled in disbelief. Gaara could sense Kakashi and Sasuke's chakra flare in amusement. He himself had to squelch a laugh at his friend's expense, even if Sakura's statement did cause a small twinge of anger. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Right…anyway, training starts tomorrow. We will be doing a series of survival exercises to test your capabilities. If you're not up to scratch, then you will be stripped of your rank and sent back to the academy for additional instruction from Iruka."

"But sensei," Sakura said, "we already passed the genin exams."

"The exam is only to see which of you is truly capable of becoming a ninja. In reality, only nine of the students who passed will become genin. The rest go back to the academy. The test you will receive tomorrow has a sixty-six percent chance of failure!"

"Oh, what a rip-off! Just when you think you're out of the thick of it…"Naruto said, trailing off into mingled curses and complaints against the unfairness of life.

"We'll meet at the training field at eight o'clock." Kakashi said, then handed out a piece of paper to each genin, "these are instructions and details your assignment. Memorize it and don't be late! Oh, and don't eat breakfast unless you want to vomit."

On that enigmatic note, the silver-haired jonin made a hand sign and used his teleportation jutsu to vanish once again, leaving nothing but a wisp of smoke and dread at what the next day would bring.

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I hope you enjoyed my chapter. The next one will have the first lengthy ninja battle: Kakashi vs the genin. 


	6. Teamwork

I seem to be developing a pattern of writing two chapters in quick succession and then taking a long time with the next chapter. I did offer the warning that I was a sporadic writer.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter Six: Teamwork**

Since he had nothing else to do that night, and since Kakashi had forbidden them from eating breakfast, Gaara decided that his night would be best spent doing reconnaissance of the training ground. Before the sun had even though about cresting the horizon, Gaara had every tree and shrub memorized. Once that had been done, Gaara had done a more thorough search near the clearing. As he had suspected, there were many traps that Kakashi had doubtless set the previous day. The jonin would surely try to maneuver his charges into them. Gaara memorized the location of every trap he could find.

His job done, Gaara sat in the middle of the clearing. He sank to his knees and began to meditate. He calmly circulated his chakra throughout his body, relishing the relaxing sensation of warm energy passing through every cell of his being. As minutes turned into hours, Gaara became aware of all of his body's rhythms. He felt the cool caress of fresh air entering and exiting his lungs. He felt the hot rush of blood in his veins, and he could feel the staccato beating of his heart as though it were cannon blasts being set off in his chest. And with his senses so attuned to everything around him, it was easy to detect the single presence that was at the edge of the clearing.

Gaara opened his eyes to see Sakura Haruno at the edge of the clearing. The sun was up now; meditation always skewed his sense of time. The sky was a pale, cloudless blue. A slight breeze rustled the leaves of the trees and Sakura's pink hair. She was staring at him in puzzlement.

"I thought I would be the first one here. How long have you been here?" She asked.

"I came here at about nine o'clock last night." Gaara replied stoically.

"Nine o'clock! Did you sleep here?"

"I don't sleep."

"Oh, I know what you mean. This training is bound to be intense, the anticipation kept me up for most of the night as well."

"No, you don't understand. I don't sleep _ever_. I have…chronic insomnia."

"Then how the hell are you still alive? Or even sane?" a new voice asked.

Gaara looked around. Sasuke Uchiha had entered the clearing. His face was in the same uncaring expression it always was. He sounded bored. However, Gaara could sense the surprise in his chakra signature. The boy had very good control over himself. "I use meditation to simulate sleep. It keeps me sane and alive, even if it isn't as satisfying."

The Uchiha grunted and settled against a tree. Sakura, blushing madly, sat next to him. Gaara sat back down and resumed meditating. An hour or so later, Naruto sprang into the clearing from a tree branch. He walked over to Gaara and flopped onto his back. The redhead noticed that his friend seemed to have a little less chakra than usual.

"You seem decidedly less energetic than usual, Naruto."

"I was up all night practicing my taijutsu. I'm going to beat the crap out of that guy!"

"Sure."

It was another two hours before Kakashi reached the clearing. When he did, he greeted them with a cheery wave in his usual calm voice. Sakura and Naruto immediately bellowed complaints at him for being late. Sasuke and Gaara said nothing, merely watching the silver-haired jonin. Ninja were trained to expect the unexpected, and this ninja in particular was too unpredictable for comfort. Kakashi set down an alarm clock on one of three stumps that were set in the ground.

"I've set this alarm to go off at noon." Kakashi informed them. He held up his hand, and two bells on strings were hanging from it. "I have here two bells. Your challenge is to get them from me before the alarm goes off. Anyone who fails doesn't get lunch. Instead, you will be tied to these stumps and forced to watch the rest of us eat our lunches in front of you."

All of the student's stomachs rumbled at the mention of food. _So that's why he wanted us to skip breakfast_, Gaara thought sourly. Kakashi seemed untroubled by their discomfort, and continued, "You only need one bell apiece. But since there aren't enough to go around, two of you are definitely headed for the stumps. And one of those two will be going back to the academy. I'll make that judgment based on the skills you show me."

He clasped the bells to his belt, and said, "You may use shuriken if you wish. Strike as though you mean to kill or you will never defeat me."

"But, sensei," Sakura said, "that's so dangerous!"

"You couldn't even dodge an eraser." Naruto chimed in, "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Only the weak speak loudly." Kakashi replied easily, "Now, let's forget the dunce and we'll start on my signal."

The insult was too much for Naruto. He snarled in the back of his throat and reached into his equipment pouch. He pulled out a kunai, put it in a reverse grip in his hand, and reared back to throw the weapon right at Kakashi. There was only one problem; the jonin was gone. In a movement so fast not even Gaara could see it, their sensei blurred behind Naruto and lashed out. One hand held Naruto's head in place while the other grasped the blonde's hand and pressed the tip of the kunai against the back of his neck. It happened in the blink of an eye, so fast there was nothing Gaara could have done to prevent it.

"Not so fast." Kakashi said, "I didn't say 'go'. But at least you struck to kill, so it seems you've begun to respect me. Maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to like you guys. Go!"

Not needing any further prompting, Gaara spun on his heel and sprang for the trees. He could remember where the traps were and was careful to avoid them. He had seen in his peripheral vision that the rest of his squad was fleeing as well. They could not defeat a jonin head on. They would have to regroup and make a plan before Kakashi would lose those bells. Gaara landed on a branch and looked back at the clearing one more time. Kakashi had not moved…and neither had Naruto. The orange-clad ninja was standing right in front of the jonin, shouting challenges at him.

_You have to be shitting me_, Gaara thought exasperatedly. He braced his foot on the trunk of the tree and leapt back into the clearing. He landed right as Naruto charged Kakashi. The blonde screeched to a halt when Kakashi reached into an equipment pouch on his belt. He tensed, expecting the older ninja to draw a weapon, and was bemused when the jonin instead withdrew a book and began reading.

"Carry on. It shouldn't make any difference in the outcome, considering who I'm up against." he said lazily.

"I'll flatten you!" Naruto shouted back, and resumed his charge. He threw a punch at Kakashi's head, which the jonin blocked one-handed, without even looking up from his book. Naruto swung his leg in a vicious kick. Kakashi smoothly sank into a crouch, dodging the attack. The blonde roared in anger and frustration, cocked his fist back, and swung as hard as he could. While still reading, Kakashi whipped around Naruto so that he was crouched behind the young genin. _Wait one second_, Gaara thought, looking at the jonin's hand.

It was the sign of the tiger. Kakashi was using an advanced hand seal to augment his speed. It was something that Naruto had no defense against, he was not that experienced yet. Gaara decided that it was time he intervened. He popped the cork out of his gourd as a stream of sand flew towards the tussling ninja. Kakashi's eye widened in shock as he saw the mass of sand try to envelope him. He performed a graceful flip out of the sand's path, landing several feet away from Naruto. The blonde drew two shuriken and threw them at Kakashi, who put his fingers through the holes in the center. Slowly, without taking his eyes from the two genin, he put his book back into its pouch.

Then in a blur of motion, he was gone again. Gaara extended his senses and cast about for the missing jonin. Naruto pointed at him and shouted, "Behind you!"

"_One thousand years of death_!" Kakashi cried, and thrust his stiffened fingers at Gaara. It could have been a devastating technique; there were many nerve clusters in the back that would cause painful muscle spasms. However, it was ineffective against someone with a sand barrier. More sand whipped out of the gourd on Gaara's back and solidified in front of Kakashi's strike. He yelped as he jammed his fingers against the sand, and then yelped again when it tried to engulf him. The jonin sped backwards, kicked off a tree, and landed by the small river that flowed at the edge of the clearing.

Naruto had anticipated where the silver-haired ninja would fall, and rocketed toward Kakashi like an orange-clad bullet. The jonin saw him coming, of course, and once Naruto was within range a simple backward kick sent him splashing into the river. Now it was only Kakashi and Gaara in the clearing. _I wish those other two would come out and help_, Gaara thought, _with all of us working together, we might be able to get the bells_. The redhead was not idle during his musing. Kakashi was standing in a slight crouch, ready to react to anything Gaara might throw at him. Anything _obvious_ that he might use, anyway. Gaara had siphoned off some sand from his gourd, and had sent it down the back of his leg and crawling along the ground. He kept it very dispersed, so that unless Kakashi stared hard at the ground and looked for the slight movement of the grass, he would never see it coming.

The jonin shifted slightly, and Gaara could tell he was about to move. The sand was not close enough yet, but it would have to do. Then, Naruto burst from the river in a spray of water. Another Naruto followed the first, and another, and another. In total, eight of the blonde ninja leapt out of the river to array themselves in a loose semicircle around their opponent. Gaara had to contain an exultant cry of victory. Naruto's reappearance had bought him just enough time to get his sand into place. It had completely encircled Kakashi. Gaara focused his will, and the sand sprang up to wrap itself around Kakashi in an impenetrable shell. The young genin left a space around Kakashi's belt open so that the bells hung out in the open.

"Naruto! Get them!"

Naruto and all of his shadow clones leapt onto Kakashi's still form. They scrabbled furiously for a moment, then there was a collective moan of disappointment and they backed off. Confused, Gaara allowed the shell to drop. Only a log lay amongst the grains of sand. Kakashi had used the art of substitution to escape Gaara's trap. Naruto looked at him ruefully.

"Why do you keep mistaking logs for ninja?"

"Shut up and come here for a minute, I've got a plan."

* * *

Gaara made a fist, and squeezed with all of his strength. The tree trunk imploded, crushed to splinters by the band of sand. The tree crashed to the ground, and the team of shadow clones Naruto had made searched the branches for their hidden sensei. After a minute or two, they looked at Gaara and shook their heads. The redhead sighed in exasperation and brought down another tree. He and Naruto had been repeating this process for the past quarter of an hour. It had yet to work, but Gaara had not devised this plan for it to succeed. From the sounds of things, Kakashi was keeping himself busy with their other teammates. A short while ago, Gaara had heard a high-pitched shriek of terror from within the forest. He had had to restrain Naruto to keep him from rushing to Sakura's aid.

The young demon container sensed him a fraction of a second before he struck. All of Naruto's shadow clones were blasted out of existence by blows too fast to see. The real genin was sent flying. He landed hard on his back, and stayed there gasping for breath. Kakashi struck at Gaara, so fast that his sand barrier was barely able to intercept the attack. Just as swiftly, the jonin flipped over the younger ninja. He pulled the young demon container into a headlock and pressed a kunai against throat.

"This was pitifully easy," Kakashi said, "I'm disappointed in you. You made yourselves such easy targets by destroying all of those trees; it was like you were painting bull's eyes on yourselves."

"Don't worry," Gaara reassured, "I'm not quite that stupid."

Gaara jerked his head forward, driving the kunai deep into his throat. Kakashi gasped in shock, then cursed when Gaara's body lost its cohesiveness and turned into a giant mass of sand. Without hesitation, it wrapped itself tightly around the jonin. Thick sections went around his hands to prevent him from making signs, and a band of sand went around his eyes. Grunting with effort, Kakashi let loose a burst of chakra and broke free of his bonds. He was completely stymied by what he saw. The real Gaara was standing a few yards away, laughing, with Naruto. Each of them was holding something. Kakashi looked down at his belt. The bells were gone!

"Looks like we pass sensei!" Naruto said jubilantly. Gaara made a beckoning motion, and the sand that had scattered about the ground gathered itself up and slithered back into his gourd. He fished the cork out of his pocket and sealed the gourd shut.

"I'm not going to lie to you two," Kakashi said, "I'm pretty damn impressed by what you've done. You perfectly played me for a fool by making yourselves look just as incompetent as I thought you were. I apologize for underestimating you."

"Well, it was all Gaara's idea." Naruto said humbly.

"But you followed his suggestions. The entire point of this exercise was to teach you the importance of teamwork. You two seemed to have learned that lesson long before you came here, unlike Sasuke and Sakura."

"Where are they, anyway?" Naruto asked.

"They're right behind you."

The two wheeled around. Indeed, Sasuke and Sakura were behind them. They were gagged and tied to the stumps on the other side of the clearing. Gaara was shocked. "When the hell did you put them there?"

"Just before I attacked Naruto's shadow clones. It's good to know that I'm at least stealthy enough for the two of you." Kakashi replied. He walked over to the bound genin and pulled the gags off them. He stared down at them sternly. "If you two had helped each other, or helped Naruto and Gaara, you might be the ones with the bells. Instead, Sakura, you ignored the two who were already fighting me and focused on Sasuke, even though you couldn't find him. And you, Sasuke, decided that everyone else would just slow you down and tried to play it solo."

The two genin had the grace to look ashamed. Kakashi tossed two boxed lunches to Naruto and Gaara, "Tuck in, you two. You've earned it. Round two starts in half an hour, and then I'll decide who's going back to the academy. I'll untie these two after you finish lunch. Don't give them any, or you all fail. Bye."

The elder ninja disappeared in a puff of smoke. Gaara looked down at his lunchbox. He was starving; he had not eaten anything since last night. The redhead looked at Naruto, who was looking at his tied comrades. He met Gaara's eyes, and cocked his head questioningly. Gaara nodded in agreement. The two demon containers walked over to where their teammates were bound. Sakura was looking away from them whereas Sasuke was glowering right at them. Gaara decided he would let Naruto play hero to his crush, so he walked towards Sasuke. The Uchiha eyed him suspiciously, and then looked shocked when Gaara held out a bit of food for him.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked.

"You're no good to me weakened by hunger." Gaara replied, "If you can't keep up with us when Kakashi-sensei gets back, then you're just a liability. Now say '_ah_.'"

Sasuke grunted and began to eat the food Gaara was giving him. Sakura had put up less of a fight than Sasuke, and was gratefully accepting the food Naruto was giving her. Gaara said, "Be sure to save some for yourself, Naruto. We don't want to become liabilities ourselves."

Each genin got half a lunch, which was better than nothing in Gaara's estimation. He toyed with the idea of severing their bonds so that they could immediately get the jump on Kakashi, but was pulled from his musing when he sensed a presence at the edge of the clearing. He looked up, and cursed quietly. The others followed his gaze, and moaned in fear. Kakashi was sitting on a tree limb, and from his expression, he was not happy with them. He slid smoothly from his perch and strode towards the genin. He put his hands on his hips and stared hard at each one in turn.

"Were my instructions unclear?" Kakashi asked angrily, "You do know what the penalty is for disobeying me, don't you?"

"Yes!" Naruto shouted defiantly. Gaara nodded solemnly, and the other two looked resolutely at their sensei.

Kakashi stared at them each in turn, and then smiled. "Very good. You all pass."

"Huh?" Sakura said, shocked, "But, who's going back to the academy?"

"None of you are. Don't worry about that, I just said it to scare you."

"Then, won't our cell have too many people?"

"Are you volunteering to go back to the academy to even us out?"

"No!"

"Good. One extra person won't be detrimental."

"Wait," Sasuke said, "Gaara and Naruto broke the rules that you gave us. They gave us food when you told them not to, and we took it. Why do we all pass?"

"As I said," Kakashi replied, "this exercise was all about teamwork. Obeying the shinobi code is important, yes, and following orders are even more important than that. But your comrades are more important than any words that any ninja may speak, whatever their rank."

The jonin walked over to a stone marker with the Konoha flag by it. He placed a hand on it, and said, "Look at the marker. It is covered with the names of heroes of our village."

"What kind of heroes?" Naruto asked excitedly, "I want to get my name on the stone too."

"The dead kind." Kakashi replied gravely, "Each and every person on this marker died in the line of duty. It is a memorial. It also contains the names of my most precious friends. A time may come when one of you is taken hostage, and you may have to choose between the mission and the life of your friend. When you undertake a mission, you put your lives on the line. You must accept this fact if you wish to be shinobi."

Gaara met Kakashi's hard gaze. He was not saying these things to be cruel, he was being honest about what to expect from the life of a shinobi. "You two," he pointed at Sasuke and Sakura, "should take after Naruto and Gaara's example. All right, team seven, that's all for today. Everyone can go home now. Just report to the mission assignment office tomorrow at eight o'clock."

* * *

"Is the target in sight?" Kakashi asked over the headset.

"Yes, it's about five meters away." Sakura replied.

"I'm in position, can we please do something now?" Naruto whined. Sasuke seconded the blonde's suggestion. Gaara remained silent, waiting for Kakashi's inevitable command.

"Go!" The jonin snapped over the headset.

All four genin leapt from their hiding spots. Their quarry was crouched down in the center of the clearing. It had stopped to rest after a lengthy chase through much of the forest. Naruto landed first and grabbed their quarry with both hands. Their nemesis, the cat, clawed Naruto across the face in retaliation. The orange-clad ninja howled in pain, and squeezed the cat harder against his chest. Kakashi reminded them of the identifying ribbon on the cat's right ear. Gaara looked and, sure enough, a black ribbon with the name 'Tiger' written on it was attached to the animal's right ear.

"Target confirmed." Gaara told Kakashi over the headset.

"Very good," Kakashi said cheerfully, "Mission: Recover the missing cat is now accomplished."

A short trek later, Team Seven had returned the cat to its owner. An overweight wife of some noble, she had considered it worth the fee to send ninja after her missing cat. The Konoha accountants had agreed wholeheartedly, and dispatched Team Seven to hunt the cat down. The woman was now crushing the thing in a hug so tight its eyes were bugging out. Gaara felt sorry for the cat, but not sorry enough to free it. Behind the satisfied customer, a long table with dozens of mission scrolls stretched the length of the room. On this particular day, both the Hokage and Iruka were on duty giving missions to ninja cells.

"Well done," the Hokage said, "For your next mission, we have a babysitting job, helping someone with their groceries, or planting potatoes. Which one would you like?"

"Hey, old man! These missions suck! How about a cool mission? Something amazing!" Naruto shouted. Gaara winced at his abrasive demeanor, but had to agree. So far they had done only menial tasks that any civilian could have managed. Why anyone would want to pay the exorbitant fee ninja charged for some of the simple tasks they had performed was beyond Gaara's comprehension.

"Naruto," Iruka said, "you're still a beginner. Everyone starts out doing grunt work, it's how you build up experience."

"But we've done a ton of small stuff already! I want some action!"

"You only just achieved genin rank," the Hokage admonished, "the best you could hope for are D ranked missions."

"It's not fair! There's more to me than the troublemaking failure that you think I am!"

Gaara cleared his throat, hoping to add some logic to his friend's heartfelt exclamation, "Hokage-sama, couldn't we just do a C ranked mission? It can't be that much more difficult than a D ranked mission would be."

"Very well. I'll give you a C ranked mission. Your objective is to protect our client while he returns to his home village and finishes constructing a bridge there." the Hokage said. He turned to an aide that was waiting by the door and said, "Please send in our guest."

A moment later, a man entered the room. He had a white beard and mustache that matched his mane of hair and contrasted sharply with his tan skin. Judging from the flush in his face and the bottle in his hand, he was also drunk. His gaze slid contemptuously over each member of the cell. He snorted and said, "They look like a bunch of wet-nosed brats. Especially the blonde-haired kid, he has the face of an imbecile. You kids aren't really ninja, are you?"

"What?" Naruto bellowed, "I'll kill you!"

He made to attack the old man, but Kakashi grabbed his collar. "Wrong. No killing the old man you've been assigned to protect."

"I am Tazuna," the client said, "a bridge builder of ultimate renown. Until I am safely back at my own country, where I will be completing my next bridge, you'll all be expected to protect me…even at the cost of your own lives!"

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review, I appreciate it very much.


	7. The Demon of the Mist

I'm sorry I took so long. I was really hoping that I would be able to finish this chapter before the holidays. The next one will probably take a while as well. Sorry.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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* * *

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**Chapter Seven: The Demon of the Mist**

"All right! Road trip!"

_Dear god, he can be loud sometimes_, Gaara thought. Surely Naruto's exclamation had sounded throughout the entire village. Everyone in their party, the whole of Team Seven along with Tazuna, stared at the blonde as he bounced around, prattling on about how he had never been outside of the village before. Tazuna looked somewhat troubled. He turned to Kakashi and asked, "Am I really expected to put my life in this fool's hands?"

"Well," Kakashi said, embarrassed, "I'm an elite ninja, and I'll be along too. There's no need for concern."

"Listen, you old geezer!" Naruto shouted, miffed at Tazuna's insult, "You should never mess with ninja, especially the good ones like me! I'm the cream of the elite! In fact, I'm going to be Hokage someday! The best there ever was!"

"Hokage?" Tazuna asked slowly, clinically, "The best there ever was? I don't think a guy like you has it in him."

"Well, you're old and stupid" Naruto fired back, "I'm doing all the right things, and I'm doing them fast! And when I do rise to the top, your going to wish you had been a lot more respectful to me right now!"

"Respect you? I don't think so. Not even if you did become Hokage."

Naruto inhaled sharply, in preparation to bellow anew, and Gaara decided it was time to intervene. He elbowed his friend sharply in the ribs to draw his attention and said, "Naruto, just let it go. He's not worth it. Let's just get this mission over with."

"I agree," Tazuna barked over a shoulder, the others had started walking, "I'm not getting any younger here."

"It's not like you can get any older." Naruto muttered peevishly.

"What?"

* * *

Team Seven had been walking in relative silence with their charge for roughly half an hour. Ever since they had lost sight of the village walls, Gaara had had a funny feeling. The sensation was equal parts unsettling and annoying, like movement caught at the corner of the eye. Not one for taking chances, Gaara expanded his senses. Still, nothing concrete registered to him. He hissed in exasperation and pushed the matter from his mind. 

"Um, Tazuna-san," Sakura asked, "you're from the Land of Waves, right?"

"Yes," Tazuna replied shortly, "what of it?"

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't there ninja in the Land of Waves?"

"No," the jonin replied, "not there. Although as a general rule, despite differences in local cultures and customs, most other lands have a hidden village where a ninja clan or two resides. You see, in most countries the ninja villages serve as the military force for that country, and they also handle the ongoing relations with other nations. They are not under the authority of that nation's ruling body, but exist alongside of it. In small island nations such as the Land of Waves, a ninja village is viewed as unnecessary. However, in the larger lands of Konoha, Iwa, Kumo, Kiri, and Kuni, the villages are immense and very powerful. That is why those countries are referred to as the five great lands of shinobi. They are also the only places where the village leaders refer to themselves as a kage. These ninja, the best in their respective countries, are known universally as the five kages: the supreme commanders of all of the tens of thousands of shinobi in the world."

Seeing that Sakura was looking uneasy at the mention of so many powerful ninja, Kakashi changed his tone, "But you don't have to worry. You won't be facing duels with any foreign ninja. This is only a C ranked mission, after all."

The pink-haired girl smiled, reassured. Gaara frowned. He had felt it again, but much more insistently this time. Silence had once more descended on the group as they walked. A large puddle was on the ground, so they moved to the edge of the road to avoid it. Kakashi glanced at the puddle over his shoulder, but continued walking. It didn't matter to Gaara, the fact that it even registered to a jonin sent alarm bells ringing in his mind. That's when it hit him. There had been no rain for the past week or so. _There should be no puddles on the ground!_

Gaara whirled on the spot. How could he have been so stupid! He had given his back to the enemy. True, for someone with an automatic defensive barrier it was not as big of a threat as it was to a normal person, but his carelessness had put his teammates in harm's way. Gaara spun just fast enough to see two dark shapes blur past him. There was a collective gasp of surprise from the rest of the group as the enemy ninja moved into their midst. The redhead spun forward once again just in time to see Kakashi become ensnared in a length of razor-edged chain the two ninja held between the two of them. The jonin did not even have time to shout before he was torn to shreds.

"One little piggy." One of the ninja said gleefully. The pieces of meat that had once been Kakashi flopped onto the ground in a spray of crimson gore. The two enemy ninja wasted no time. They sprinted to their next target, which just happened to be Naruto. In unison, they whipped the chain around to wrap Naruto up in the same manner as Kakashi. However, by the time the two had dispatched the silver-haired jonin, Sasuke was already moving. He firmly lodged the chain into a tree trunk using a shuriken and a kunai. The two enemies tried to tug it free, but the chain would not budge. Sasuke took advantage of it, planting his hands on the wrists of their gauntlets and kicking backward. The blows impacted with such force that the chain snapped off of both gauntlets, allowing the two to be knocked off their feet.

They were not stunned for more than a moment. Once they regained their balance, they raced toward new targets. One charged at Naruto while the other bypassed the genin to strike at Tazuna. Gaara did not allow them to take more than half a dozen steps. Simultaneously, Gaara encased them in sand and sealed them tight. The redhead pulsed his chakra and clenched his fists, and twin jets of gore spurted from the sand shells. Guilt-tinged rage throbbed in his head. His error might have been the end of Kakashi, but he would not allow anyone else to die because of him. Gaara kept the enemies suspended and covered, mindful of his more innocent comrades. Carefully and thoroughly, he searched the area with every one of his senses. Satisfied that no more enemies where around, Gaara walked the two corpses into the forest and dumped them out of the sand. He was relived to find his actual targets emerge from the sand.

Gaara went back into the clearing, and was shocked to see Kakashi standing amongst the others. He looked at where Kakashi's corpse had been less than a minute previously, and saw many scattered pieces of wood. He had used the art of substitution to avoid the deadly chain. Gaara snorted in self-disgust. Of course it would take more than a sneak attack as unsubtle as this one to kill a jonin. Kakashi saw Gaara approach and said, "I'm sorry, Gaara. I should have moved to help you sooner before you had to fight them. It never occurred to me that you would have to kill those two. Good work. You too, Sasuke."

Gaara shrugged in response. He had been killing people since he was a toddler, albeit mostly due to Shukaku's influence. He had only been troubled by Baki's death for a short time, and these two caused him no discomfort at all. No opponent's life outweighed those of his comrades. He had done the best that he could in the situation he was presented with, and that was satisfying enough for Gaara.

"Tazuna-san, I need to have a word with you." Kakashi said somberly, "It appears that our attackers are Chunin from Kiri, mist ninja. Had we been informed that enemy ninja would be coming after you, this mission would have been at the very least a B ranked mission, most likely an A ranked mission. You would have been accompanied by a team made up of elite ninja, not a handful of genin and one jonin."

"I suppose I should tell you," Tazuna said, "as you guessed, this job is much more dangerous than you and your students were led to believe. There's a very scary man who wants me dead."

"A 'very scary' man?" Kakashi asked, "Who is it?"

"You've probably heard of him. He's a billionaire in the field of marine transport. His name is Gato."

"_The_ Gato?" Kakashi asked incredulously, "Of Gato Shipping and Transport? They say he's the richest man in the world!"

"That's the one." Tazuna said grimly, "On the surface he's a legitimate businessman, but the truth is he's a ruthless, murdering criminal who employs gangs and teams of ninja, and traffics drugs and contraband. He starts out taking over companies, and ends up controlling entire countries! It was one year ago when he set his sights on the Land of Waves. It took him virtually no time at all to take over our entire marine transportation and shipping industry. He now has a stranglehold on all forms of transportation, the lifeblood of an island nation, and controls all of our country's wealth. The only thing that can stop him now is the construction of that bridge!"

"Then, Tazuna-san," Sakura said, "as the person heading the construction of this bridge, you stand very much in Gato's way."

"And those ninja that attacked us must have been Gato's." Gaara said, "If you knew the kind of opposition that was stacked up against you, why didn't you tell the Hokage about it when you hired us?"

"Thanks to Gato, our country doesn't have very much money. Even the local lords are poor. I myself have no money at all. An elite ninja guard is more expensive than anything I can afford. If you guys leave me now, then I am as good as dead." Tazuna said glumly. Then he heaved a sigh and said jovially, "But that's not your concern! After all, you won't be there to see my daughter and ten-year-old grandson cry all day like their hearts are breaking!"

Team Seven winced collectively as Tazuna continued to describe, in graphic detail, how his young family would be forever scarred by his guaranteed execution at the hand of Gato. Finally, Kakashi cut him off, "Well, I suppose we can at least escort you to your home."

Tazuna chuckled in victory, and the journey to his home continued. After walking for a few more hours, they reached a dock where a friend of Tazuna's was waiting for them with a motorboat. They all piled into the boat, and they rocketed across the water toward the Land of Waves. It was at this point that an astonishing discovery was made. Gaara, container of the demon Shukaku, genin of Konoha, had absolutely no sea legs whatsoever. He spent most of the two hour trip with his head over the side of the boat, puking his guts out. Consequentially, Tazuna spent most of the trip making fun of Gaara for it.

"Do you still want to murder him?" Gaara asked Naruto, when they had disembarked from the boat and started walking again.

"I called it first," Naruto replied, "so I get the first hit."

"Deal."

The group moved much more slowly now that they were in the Land of Waves. Now that they were closer to Gato, the likelihood of encountering assassins was much higher. Every one of the shinobi was wound tight, stretching their senses to the limit, trying to sense everything anywhere near them. Naruto was ten paces ahead of the group, scouting for threats. Twice, he roared warnings and lobbed weapons into bushes. Twice, Sakura punched him in the back of the head for scaring them over nothing.

"Naruto," Gaara said, "if you impale another innocent woodland creature, I'm going to have to put you in a sand shell and bob your ass the rest of the way to Tazuna's house."

"Hey, I can't help it! You and Sasuke got all of the action last time. I don't want to miss out on all of the fun!"

Sasuke snorted and said, "Maybe if you would react faster you would be able to have some 'fun'."

"Oh yeah? Well maybe if you would have left them stuck to the tree instead of-LOOK OUT!"

Naruto hurled a kunai towards the bushes behind Sasuke. The Uchiha moved to give Naruto room, but the knife still brushed his hair as it whistled past. Gaara focused on the bush, wondering if he had missed something again. He walked over and pulled a branch out of the way. The knife had lodged itself into a tree barely a millimeter above a white rabbit. The thing was so startled that it had frozen. Gaara picked up the animal and held it out toward his teammates. Everyone relaxed visibly, except for Kakashi. His visible eye widened in realization as he ordered everyone to the ground. Gaara looked around in confusion when a large, black blur flew over his flattened teammates.

Gaara followed the object's path and saw a tremendous sword stuck into a tree trunk. He looked back in the direction the weapon had come from, trying to find the one who had thrown it, when he felt such a titanic wave of killer intent that he froze where he stood. He had never felt anything like it. _Never_. It was like being slapped in the face by a friend. All of Gaara's stomach muscles were clenched, and he actually broke out in a cold sweat. Slowly, he drew his gaze back to the sword in the tree. A man was standing on the hilt of the sword. He was bare-chested, but a wrap of bandages obscured his mouth and chin. He wore baggy pants, and his headband was set on his head so that the metal part covered his temple.

"Well, well…" Kakashi said smoothly, "if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, the kid who ran off and left Kirigakure."

"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye, I presume?" Zabuza said, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble…could you surrender the old man?"

"Sorry, but no. Not to an S-ranked missing-nin like yourself, at any rate." Kakashi replied, and then instructed, "Assume the manji battle formation! Protect Tazuna-san and stay out of the fight. That is the kind of teamwork that this situation calls for. And now, Zabuza, shall we?"

The genin clustered around Tazuna as Kakashi lifted his headband, revealing his left eye. A thin horizontal scar ran across it, and it was very different from his other eye. This one was reddish orange, and three teardrop-shaped dots orbited the pupil. Zabuza laughed eagerly, "Ah, the renowned Sharingan eye. What an honor, to see it so soon."

"Sharingan?" Naruto asked, "What the hell is a Sharingan?"

"Shinobi who have mastered the Sharingan eye…" Sasuke replied slowly, "have mastered a form of ocular ninjutsu. It enables them to penetrate and see the reality behind any illusion or spell…and to reflect the power of the magics they penetrate back on those who cast them! A mirror wheel, or Sharingan, eye is one of several types used by the masters. And there's more…"

"Like what?"

Zabuza laughed again, "There is indeed more. Most formidable of all is the acuity with which the Sharingan can discern and then duplicate its opponent's greatest skill. But enough talking. Now, Kakashi, let's begin!"

The mist ninja made a series of hand signs, and a thick fog descended on them. In seconds, Gaara could not see the trees of the surrounding forest. Then he lost sight of even Kakashi, who was only five paces away. Less than thirty seconds after the jutsu had begun, Gaara could barely see his own allies who were standing right next to him. The killer intent continued to bombard the young genin, making them sweat and twitch in nervousness. Abruptly, they heard the crack of wood as Zabuza wrenched his sword out of the tree, and then complete and utter silence enveloped them.

"Stay still," Kakashi urged them, "he'll come after me first. Zabuza Momochi, a former member of the Kirigakure assassin's corps, is a master of the art of silent killing."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Kakashi, but no."

Gaara jumped, the voice was coming from behind him, in the midst of their group. Zabuza was crouched in between them all, his sword arm extended backward ready to strike. With a grunt, he lashed out at them. Faster than thought, Kakashi simultaneously shoved all three genin and Tazuna out of the sword's path and stabbed Zabuza in the chest with his kunai. Gaara thought the battle was won, but then Zabuza burst like a balloon, spraying water everywhere. The mist ninja had created a clone made of water and sent it in as a decoy. The real one materialized out of the fog and sliced Kakashi neatly in two with his sword. The jonin's eye widened in shock before he hit the ground, his body dissolving into a puddle of water. He had copied the water clone technique Zabuza had utilized, even through the mist.

The real Kakashi pressed a kunai against Zabuza's neck. A firm strike on the missing-nin's wrist robbed him of his sword, and a second blow to the base of his spine brought him to his knees. "Surrender now and I won't have to kill you." Kakashi said evenly. Zabuza appeared to consider the offer, and then snorted.

"I decline!" The real Zabuza said, behind Kakashi. The water clone in front of the Sharingan-wielding jonin dissolved. It was just as well, because if it had continued to exist it might well have been destroyed by the blindingly fast swing of Zabuza's sword. Despite its speed, Kakashi just managed to dodge the attack. Without missing a beat, Zabuza drove the blade into the ground. Then, using the handle as support, he spun in midair and kicked Kakashi hard in the side. The jonin flew thirty feet and landed with a splash in the small lake by the path. Gaara glanced around, realizing that the mist had dissipated. _He doesn't think that the rest of us are a threat_, Gaara thought. He watched as the missing-nin joined Kakashi in the lake, standing _on_ the water, and created a solid sphere of water that trapped his sensei. _He might be right_.

"I'll finish you off later," Zabuza gloated, "first I have to eliminate your little friends."

He made a hand sign with his free hand and a water clone emerged from the lake. Naruto was the closest one to the water's edge, so he was the first to fall. The water clone struck him viciously across the face, with so much force that Naruto's headband flew off of his head. It clattered to the ground, and the clone ground it under its heel. "You think that wearing a headband makes you a shinobi?" Zabuza scoffed from the lake, "All of you are just a bunch of brats! Not a single one of you could be called a shinobi. And I'll prove it now, by killing you!"

For some unfathomable reason, to Gaara at least, Sasuke chose to charge the enemy's clone. He threw a handful of shuriken before leaping gracefully into the air. The clone swatted the shuriken aside with one swing of his sword, then caught Sasuke before he landed. He dashed the raven-haired boy on the ground, bouncing him all the way back to where he had started. Naruto had taken his teammate's cue, and had rushed the clone just after Sasuke. He did no better, and he skidded to a stop at Gaara's feet. The redhead used his sand to lift Sasuke and set him on his feet next to them. Teamwork would be necessary to defeat an opponent of this caliber.

"Naruto," Gaara asked, "why the hell would you rush him alone? He's an S-ranked missing-nin!"

Naruto spat blood and said, "Sorry to worry you, but I had to get my headband back."

The Zabuza clone looked down in surprise. Indeed, the headband was no longer beneath his foot. Naruto was tying it back onto his forehead. Gaara snorted, _He would risk his life for something like that_. "It's a piece of metal, you psycho." Gaara said, "You couldn't have waited until _after_ we had beaten him to get it back?"

"I could have, but it would have been so much less dramatic." Naruto replied with a smirk.

"After you beat me?" Zabuza asked mockingly, "You're getting a little ahead of yourselves, boys."

"We'll see. _Kage bunshin no jutsu!_"

Twenty shadow clones appeared in puffs of smoke in a solid ring around the water clone. Zabuza looked mildly impressed. All of them leapt simultaneously and piled on the clone, burying it completely. It lasted all of two seconds before the clone knocked all of them back, dispersing the shadow clones and flattening Naruto. The blonde dug in his pack for a moment, then tossed a folded Fuma shuriken to Sasuke. The Uchiha leapt into the air, unfurling the weapon as he rose, and launched it. It cleanly missed the water clone, but continued on towards the real Zabuza. The missing-nin snorted as the giant shuriken flew at him. Lazily, he watched as the weapon approached him and snatched it out of the air with his free hand.

Then a second shuriken, of equal size and just as close, entered his view. Zabuza gasped in shock. Sasuke had used the shadow shuriken technique, throwing a second weapon in the blind spot generated by the weapon that had been launched first. It was a good tactic that could take even the most experienced of ninja by surprise. However, Zabuza was an _extremely_ experienced ninja. He had used the technique himself to dispatch some of his more unintelligent opponents. A simple jump while tucking his knees to his chest was enough to avoid the shuriken and maintain his hold on Kakashi. The weapon continued harmlessly out towards the center of the lake.

"Not bad for a bunch of brats," Zabuza said, "but not good enough!"

Kakashi chuckled from within his water prison, "I think that he disagrees."

Zabuza looked behind him just in time to see a kunai that was headed for his right shoulder. His superior reflexes took over and he twisted his arm out of the way. The missing-nin looked farther out in the lake, and saw the Naruto floating a few yards from where he stood. The blonde had used the art of transformation to become the second shuriken, and had launched a surprise attack one he had passed Zabuza. The jonin was incensed with himself. How could he have allowed mere genin to outmaneuver him so cleanly? It was then that he remembered Kakashi, and he swore loudly when he saw the silver-haired jonin standing upon the water mere feet from him.

Gaara grabbed Naruto in a thin layer of sand and lifted him out of the water. He set the blonde down next to Tazuna as the two jonin began to trade blows. It was the most amazing thing Gaara had ever seen. Zabuza flew through hand signs as though he had been born performing them. Kakashi kept up with his foe despite the fact that he had to react to Zabuza's movements and make his hand sign after the missing-nin had already completed his. Zabuza thrust a hand forward as an enormous dragon comprised entirely of water reared from the surface of the lake. The liquid serpent lashed out at Kakashi and collided with the water dragon that Kakashi had effortlessly created. The two burst in a vast spray of water, and the two jonin charged each other in the mist. Zabuza swung his gigantic blade, which Kakashi countered expertly with a kunai.

The two elite ninja broke apart and initiated a new series of hand signs. Abruptly, Zabuza began to slow down, his eyes widening in disbelief. Kakashi was making signs even faster than the missing-nin. He was no longer relying on Zabuza's movements to initiate the jutsu. It was as if their sensei was reading his opponent's mind, something that was surely impossible. "All you're doing is copying me like a monkey!" Zabuza roared at Kakashi, "You can't beat me-"

"-with cheap tricks." Kakashi finished, "When I'm done with you, you'll never open that monkey mouth of yours again!"

Zabuza froze, overcome by shock and rage. Kakashi kept moving, flawlessly finishing his sequence of hand signs and blasting his foe with a massive pillar of water. The jutsu carried Zabuza onto the shore and drove him into a tree. The missing-nin slumped against it for a moment, desperately trying to regain his composure. He wondered bitterly when he had so horribly lost control of this battle. Zabuza stared wild-eyed at Kakashi and asked, "What is it with you? Can you-"

"Yes, Zabuza," Kakashi said, "This eye lets me see the future. And your future is death."

Out of nowhere, two senbon pierced Zabuza in the neck. The crazed ninja's eyes widened in shock. Then, all tension leaked out of his form and he collapsed onto the ground. He did not move. All eyes traveled along the path of the projectiles and stopped at the source. A short figure in loose pants, a turtleneck sweater and a dark blue jacket stood on a tree branch. The newcomer's face was covered by a white mask. It had a red swirling pattern on the lower face and two small eye slits, but was otherwise unadorned.

"Your prediction came true." The figure said sarcastically.

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I hope you enjoyed my chapter. Please review. 


	8. The Countdown Begins

I apologize for my extreme tardiness in producing this chapter and its comparative shortness to my other chapters. One of my personal quirks is that I have rotating obsessions. I'll like one series and nothing else for several months, then switch to something else. Naruto has been out of the rotation for awhile, but it's back now. I'm a crappy writer when I'm not enthused, anyway. Please enjoy!

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter Eight: The Countdown Begins**

Slowly, with his arms held away from his body, Kakashi walked over to Zabuza's still form. He knelt by the crumpled missing-nin and felt his wrist, and then his throat. "He's dead." Kakashi said, getting back to his feet. Gaara was amazed. By the sound of the masked one's voice, he was no older than any of the genin in his cell. And yet he had dispatched Zabuza, an S class missing-nin, like it was nothing.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto shouted. He pointed a finger at the masked person and yelled, "Who do you think you are?"

"Stand down Naruto." Kakashi ordered, "He's not our enemy."

"But you saw what he did! Zabuza was like a monster, and he just took him out in one blow! So what, do we suck or something?"

"Oh. Well, I can see how you could be upset by something like that." Kakashi said, placing a hand on Naruto's head consolingly, "But it's a big, dangerous world out there. So this probably won't be the last time we meet someone who is both younger than you…and stronger than me."

Gaara watched as the masked shinobi used a teleportation jutsu to move to Zabuza's corpse. He checked for a pulse himself, then hefted the body onto his shoulder. "Your fight is now over." he said, "I must dispose of the remains. There are many secrets held in this body. Farewell."

The shinobi once more used his teleportation jutsu and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Kakashi absently tugged his headband down over his eye. He sagged visibly from the strain of his fight. There was an awkward silence borne from the sudden lack of an objective. After a moment, Kakashi said, "Let's keep going to Tazuna's house."

Then he collapsed onto the ground. _Shit_, Gaara thought. He, along with his teammates and the old man, rushed to Kakashi's side. Gaara could see grass by his sensei's mouth rustling in time with the rise and fall of his chest. He was breathing. "He's not dead." Gaara said, "He's probably just out of chakra from the fight. Tazuna-san, please lead us to your home so we can allow him to rest in a safe place."

"Sure." The old man replied. They began walking once more. Gaara used his sand to make a stretcher to carry Kakashi. The redhead kept a few paces of distance between himself and their client. With their sensei disabled, his sand barrier would be the best defense for Tazuna. The others were in a triangular formation, Naruto and Sakura were only a few steps ahead of Tazuna. Sasuke had taken rear guard duty, and was carefully scanning the terrain for threats. _It's going to be a long walk_, Gaara thought.

* * *

"Father! I'm so glad you're- what the hell happened to him?" Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, shouted in surprise. It had taken the old man and his shinobi protectors two hours to reach his house from the site of their battle with Zabuza. In that time, Kakashi had not awakened. Gaara would have been concerned had he not been able to sense the small, yet stable current of chakra within the jonin.

"He overexerted himself in a fight." Gaara told Tsunami. He turned to Tazuna and asked, "Is there a spare bedroom we can put him in?"

"Sure," Tazuna replied cheerfully, "upstairs, second door on the right."

"Thank you." Gaara said. He went to the top floor of the house and settled Kakashi into the futon that was laid out on the floor. "I don't do bedtime stories." Gaara said, deadpan, to his unconscious teacher. Predictably, Kakashi made no reply. The redhead snorted to himself and returned to his teammates. Sakura and Naruto were helping Tazuna's daughter prepare dinner. The two genin were chopping vegetables under Tsunami's supervision. The young woman declined Gaara's offer for additional help, saying that he could help prepare one of tomorrow's meals. Shrugging, the redhead removed his gourd and propped it in a corner before sitting himself in a chair across from Tazuna.

A quarter of an hour later, Sasuke came inside through the front door. "Where have you been?" Naruto asked, "You just disappeared."

"I was scouting the area," the Uchiha replied, "in case more assassins show up. I want to be able to recognize traps."

_Not a bad idea_, Gaara thought, _I might do the same tonight_. He and Naruto helped put dinner on the table while Tsunami called for her son. A minute later, a small boy wearing a floppy fisherman's hat scampered towards them. He launched himself at Tazuna, who laughed and enfolded the child in a hug. Gaara looked sidelong at Naruto, who was doing the exact same thing to Gaara. It was a habit each had formed. Not having had the most stable of upbringings, it was hard to tell when the sight of casual affection that most took for granted would trouble one of them. It was the way they were; always looking out for each other, always trying to replace the family that the other had lost.

Gaara heard a loud _thump_ by the stairs. Every ninja at the table spun at the noise. Sasuke even had the presence of mind to draw a kunai. They all relaxed immensely when they saw Kakashi facedown at the base of the stairs. Everyone stared at the silver-haired ninja as he lifted his head weakly and said, "I smelled dinner." Gaara rolled his eyes and exerted some of his chakra. A small stream of sand issued itself from his gourd and wrapped itself around Kakashi's upper chest. With his feet still dragging on the ground, the jonin was lifted up and plopped into the only open chair at the end of the table. Tsunami loaded a plate and set it in front of Kakashi, who accepted it graciously. "So, I take it the rest of the journey went well?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes." Sasuke replied, "Nobody even bothered to shadow us for the rest of our trip here."

"They don't really have to." Gaara said, "It's common knowledge that Tazuna-san is going to finish that bridge. If anyone wants to kill him, they'll only have to go to the bridge construction site during the day in order to find him."

"True enough," Kakashi ceded, "but I don't think that we'll have any trouble for awhile. Zabuza was their best man, so I don't think any of the weaker assassins on Gato's payroll will be too eager to come after Tazuna-san…which is good considering that I probably won't be fully recovered from the fight for about a week."

"Sensei, I've been wondering who that shinobi that killed Zabuza was, and why was he wearing that mask?" Sakura asked.

"He was a hunter-nin of Kirigakure, one who is tasked with the death and disposal of a hidden village's missing-nin. The mask is one of the hallmarks of Kiri hunter-nin."

"What do you mean disposal?" Naruto asked.

"It is one of the dirtier parts of the shinobi way. You see, when a shinobi dies, the enemy may try to steal their bodies and learn about that person's techniques. For instance, if I were to die, an enemy village might take my body in the hopes that they could analyze my Sharingan eye. Worse case scenario, they would figure out how to duplicate it. To prevent this, hunter-nin track down rogue shinobi, eliminate them, and utterly destroy the remains, only taking the head back to their village to confirm their kill."

"Eww."

"Sorry, but you'd better get used to it. This is the kind of thing that you decided to expose yourself to when you became ninja. You also chose to expose yourself to duplicity."

Gaara frowned quizzically at Kakashi, "What do you mean?"

"I think Zabuza is still alive."

Tazuna, who had been taking a drink, explosively spewed his mouthful of water across the table and right into Naruto's face. The blonde cried out disgustedly and wiped his face on his sleeves. He glared evilly at Tazuna for a moment, then turned his attention back to Kakashi. "What makes you think that?" Naruto asked incredulously, "I mean, he took two hits right in the neck! How could he have survived that."

"That hunter-nin was acting suspiciously." Kakashi replied, "Normally, the corpse of the missing-nin is destroyed on the spot. The presence a few witnesses should not have mattered, yet he took the 'corpse' away. And those weapons the hunter-nin used…senbon can also be used medicinally in acupuncture. While they can be quite dangerous if they hit vital areas, the kill ratio is surprisingly low if they hit anywhere else."

"But you checked for a pulse." Sasuke said, "There was none. He must be dead."

"Not necessarily, there are vital points on the body which can, if hit correctly, can send a person into a near-death trance."

"Then, if your theory is correct, Zabuza might come bursting through the door at any time!"

"No, not quite. Being sent into a near-death trance is very strenuous on the body. Weaker people often cannot survive them. By my estimates, Zabuza should not be recovered until a week has passed."

"That's an odd coincidence." Sakura said.

"What is?"

"Well, you sustain injuries and chakra exhaustion that cripple you for approximately a week. Then Zabuza, the only ninja of your equal in Gato's employ, also sustains an injury that disables him for a week. Doesn't that seem odd to you?"

"I hadn't thought about it that way…that is weird."

"Aren't we in trouble now?" Gaara asked, "All of us were more or less an even match for Zabuza on his own, but now he probably has this hunter-nin on his side as well. That tips the scales in his favor."

"Very perceptive, Gaara." Kakashi replied with a smile, "Your analysis is correct. As such, we will not remain idle. The week of time we have been given will be devoted solely to your four, training time."

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed, "This is going to be awesome!"

"Not for you." A solemn voice said. Everyone stared in bewilderment at Inari. The child was glowering at Naruto, as if the blonde had made a joke that was in extraordinarily bad taste. Tazuna laughed raucously, breaking the tension and seemingly lifting Inari's foul mood at once. Gaara was vaguely troubled. There was something about the child's manner that suggested a deeper, darker anger and resentment than what could be provoked by Naruto's buffoonery. _I suppose it isn't really my business_, Gaara mused,_ unless, of course, it becomes a threat_.

Dinner was concluded half an hour later. After an uneventful night, which Gaara spent memorizing every tree, rock, and puddle within a mile of Tazuna's house, the genin of Team Seven followed Kakashi into the forest near the house. For a man in crutches, Kakashi was able to set a good pace. Within minutes they began to encounter truly impressive trees that one can only find in the depths of a forest. The jonin called a halt, and the genin gathered around to receive their instructions.

"Alright, training starts now." Kakashi said, "Today's lesson will focus on the use of chakra."

"Chakra?" Naruto asked incredulously, "Come on, we already know how to use chakra. If we didn't we wouldn't be able to use jutsu!"

"For once, I agree with him." Sasuke said, "We already employ chakra and the basic ninja techniques. We are ready for more advanced jutsu, our time would be better spent learning better techniques for our fight."

"Wrong." Kakashi said cheerfully, "Although it is true that you _use_ chakra, you have yet to _master_ it. While utilizing those basic shinobi techniques, you are losing valuable chakra that may save your life later in the fight. When you master the technique I'm going to be teaching you today, you will lose much less chakra while using your techniques."

"What exactly are we going to be doing?" Gaara asked.

Kakashi smiled warmly at him and replied, "Climbing trees."

"How is climbing trees going to teach us better chakra control?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, you aren't allowed to use your hands."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

"Watch and learn." Kakashi said. He began to walk towards the nearest tree, and did not stop once he reached the base of the trunk. He placed his left foot on the trunk, then the right. Without pause, he ascended the tree as if he were on a sidewalk on the ground. Once Kakashi reached a height of roughly fifty feet, he stepped onto a branch and hung upside down as if he were some grinning, silver-haired bat.

"That's it in a nutshell." Kakashi said, "Focus the full power of your chakras into the soles of your feet and use it to cling to the trunk. When you master your chakra, this is the kind of thing that you can accomplish."

"I can see that this skill would be useful for infiltration or escaping pursuit," Gaara said, "but I don't see how it can help us in a fight."

"Directly? It probably won't be much of a resource. However, the true aim of this exercise is to gain greater mastery over your chakra. To use no more than is necessary, yet to maximize its effectiveness in where and how it is applied. That subtle control, is the most critical aspect of every jutsu and technique that you'll ever apply. It's also the most difficult skill for even a master ninja to command. This type of tree climbing requires the most delicate and precise application of chakra imaginable, especially because the bottom of the foot is the area where it is most difficult to mold chakra. In other words, if you are able to master this technique, then no other jutsu should be beyond your abilities…in theory anyway."

Gaara saw Naruto nod enthusiastically. Any one task that made a multitude of other tasks simpler always appealed to him.

"The secondary objective," Kakashi continued, "is to build up enough stamina necessary to complete your task once your chakra is focused. If you think this looks hard now, it's even more difficult to maintain while using ninjutsu. So, while climbing those trees, you'll also be mastering skills that will probably save your lives."

Kakashi withdrew four kunai and threw them down toward the clustered genin. They thudded into the ground at their feet. "Use the kunai to mark your progress on the trees." the jonin instructed, "Your goal should be to make a higher mark every time you try. A running start should help you squeeze some more distance out of your attempts. I don't expect any of you to make it to the top on your first try, but do your best!"

"No sweat!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically, "I'll have this done by breakfast!"

"Less talk and more action. Now, focus your chakra and up you go."

Gaara untied his sash and allowed his gourd to drop to the ground behind him. He and his teammates formed a basic hand seal to aid their chakra manipulation. Without even trying, Gaara could feel the flow of his own chakra. He envisioned it as branching streams of pure energy humming beneath his skin, thicker than blood yet lighter than air. Every part of him that it touched it supplied with warmth and power.

With a breath, Gaara directed its flow down into his feet. His toes began to tingle, which Gaara judged to mean that he had enough. He kept his eyes closed and broke into a run. Gaara had an excellent memory, and he had calculated the number of footsteps to the tree he had selected. Even the minute distractions of counting his strides and moving his legs was causing some of the energy in his feet to bleed off. He directed more chakra into his feet as he leapt onto his tree and hit the trunk running. He heard Naruto let loose a stream of half strangled profanity as he flopped to the ground. Gaara ran on. Three heartbeats later, he heard Sasuke's huff of irritation after a loud crack of breaking wood. Gaara ran on. Ten heartbeats after that, he heard Sakura squeal as she latched onto a branch. Gaara ran on. He narrowed his focus until all he knew was the chakra in his feet and the motion of his legs as he continued to run.

Then his foot hit air. Gaara's eyes snapped open as adrenaline flooded his system and his concentration broke. He had reached the top of his tree and kept on running. With his eyes closed, he had not been able to tell that he had run out of tree to climb. He fell three feet before he was able to land on a sturdy branch. Gaara steadied himself and caught his breath before looking down. From what he could see of the rest of his team, they were all looking up at him. _It would only be polite to give them a show_, Gaara thought with a smirk. He bent his knees slightly and leapt from the branch. He made a show of flailing around, though he could not manage a scream of fear. Gaara had never been as good at showmanship as Naruto, after all. As the ground rocketed toward him, Gaara could see the horrified faces of his comrades. Naruto danced beneath him, trying to anticipate his path and catch him.

Gaara didn't try to repress his chuckle as his automatic defense kicked in. His gourd lost its form and streamed upwards to wrap itself around Gaara like a blanket. It halted his descent, and then rotated him in midair before setting him gently to his feet in front of a gaping Naruto. Gaara had to try hard not to laugh right in Naruto's face, but he could not help grinning like a maniac. He ruffled the blonde's hair and said, "It's good to know you care."

Naruto promptly fell backwards, laughing his head off. Kakashi threw one of his crutches at him, which Gaara caught and tossed back. The jonin was giving him an odd look. Gaara cocked an eyebrow in question.

"How did you do that?" Kakashi asked.

"I just stepped off the branch and let gravity take over." Gaara replied easily, earning a snort from a recovering Naruto.

"I meant the _a_scent, not the _de_scent." Kakashi clarified, "I've never seen anyone make it to the top on their first try."

"Yeah," Sakura added indignantly, "even I only made it about a quarter of the way up."

"Well, I've been throwing this sand around all of my life," Gaara explained, lifting some of it for emphasis, "You can't really be able to move around a couple thousand particles of sand at once without precise chakra control."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, and Gaara continued, "So Naruto, Sasuke, how did you do?"

The two simultaneously gave him a hand sign to express their displeasure, which Gaara accepted with a grin. Kakashi ordered them back to work. After ten laps up and down his tree, Gaara was allowed to stop. He passed the time by calling tips up to Naruto and Sasuke; Sakura's only deficiency was a lack of stamina. After Gaara's dramatic leap, the most eventful thing to happen was Naruto knocking himself unconscious on a branch as he fell back to earth, and Gaara having to carry some water in a sand bucket from the nearby river and wake him up. By the end of the day, his teammates were almost dead from chakra exhaustion, and he wound up carrying Naruto and Sasuke on little sand platforms. Gaara still was not sure if Naruto had a concussion or not, so he tried to keep him awake with small talk. And by small talk, he meant annoy the hell out of Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I couldn't help but notice that during my fall you were the only one who didn't look worried."

"Hmph."

"What did I ever do to you?"

"Well, you have this really annoying habit. It's this thing you do where you move your mouth and sound comes out."

"Ouch, that really-"

"See? There it is again. How do you stand that?"

"I just try to take it one day at a time."

"Good luck with that."

"Thank you. So, Kakashi-sensei, why do you wear that mask all the time?"

"Severe dust allergies. It's hard to be stealthy with a runny nose and a cough."

"Sand-wielding genin is given to a dust-allergic jonin. I guess the Hokage has a sense of irony."

"You're unusually talkative today, Gaara."

"Rubbing my teammates' noses in my superiority always puts me in a good mood."

This time Sakura joined Sasuke and Naruto in giving Gaara the hand sign.

"It's good to know that I'm appreciated."

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review! 


	9. Crossing Bridges

I'm so glad I finally finished this chapter, because it ends the Zabuza saga. I have a warning for all Haku fans who might be reading this: **Haku is going to have the living shit beaten out of him in this chapter**. I don't want any complaints about it now that you have been warned.

I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter Nine: Crossing Bridges**

Gaara could tell that today was not going to be his day. For one thing, Shukaku was giving him a migraine for the first time in months. Over the past several years, the demon had been bothering him less and less until he only made an appearance every couple of months. This would have been confusing to Gaara if he did not know about Naruto's demon. He suspected that because of his constant proximity to another demon container, and more importantly, to a demon much more powerful than Shukaku, that his demon tried to keep a low profile. The damn thing still kept him from sleeping, but at least Gaara could go through his days without random bursts of homicidal fury. It was just one more reason for Gaara to be glad that he had been able to find a friend like Naruto, even if he did occasionally scare the living daylights out of him.

For the entirety of the past week, Naruto had been training himself fanatically. It was true that Sasuke had also been pushing himself to the limit, but at least he had the sense to sleep. On the nights that he did not fall asleep on the ground in the forest, Naruto did not allow Gaara to drag him home until well past midnight. To Gaara's immense relief, Naruto had managed to master the tree climbing exercise the night before. Unsurprisingly, the blonde ninja was still sound asleep in the guest room. After leaving instructions to have Naruto report to the bridge as soon as he woke up, Kakashi had lead the way to the construction site with Gaara, Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna trailing behind him. Gaara sincerely hoped that they were wrong and Zabuza was really dead. Out on the bridge, Gaara would not be able to pull more sand from the ground, while Zabuza would have an abundance of water to fuel his techniques.

As soon as they reached the end of the bridge, Shukaku sent a spike of pain through Gaara's head at the sight that met them. All of the construction workers had been slaughtered. Some of them had even been beheaded or dismembered. Each one had deep lacerations on their bodies, which suggested that a large bladed weapon had been used. Sakura gasped in horror at the scene, but did not completely lose her cool. All four shinobi formed a ring around Tazuna, stretching out with their senses to find the assassin. Just as they did so, thick fog enshrouded the bridge. _It truly is Zabuza, then_, Gaara thought grimly. Abruptly, Zabuza's voice floated out of the mist.

"It's been awhile Kakashi. I see you've brought those brats, just like last time. And the boy is shaking again, poor thing."

A ring of figures appeared in the fog. They stepped forward to reveal themselves as Zabuza's water clones, each with its massive blade held in attack position. Sasuke chuckled as he drew two kunai, one in each hand.

"I'm shaking with anticipation for a rematch." the Uchiha replied with a smirk.

Kakashi grinned and said, "Go ahead, Sasuke."

In a move so fast Gaara almost lost track of him, Sasuke rushed forward. He blurred in a circle around their group, slashing each clone in the head, neck, or torso. He whirled and leapt elegantly, kicking off of some of the clones' bodies as they fell apart. Once the last one had succumbed to his blades, he rushed back to his position in the protective ring. It took three seconds. Zabuza laughed sinisterly as he and his companion advanced on them from the direction of the mainland.

"Well! It seems that my water clones were no match for you. You appear to have matured quite a bit, maybe even into worthy rivals. Eh, Haku?"

"Indeed." the masked shinobi replied.

"It looks like I was right." Kakashi stated, "Our mysterious masked friend appears to be on Zabuza's team."

"This one is mine." Sasuke said, then in a louder voice, "Hey, You! That was a pretty good show you put on before, but we're on to you now…and I hate ham actors!"

The masked one, Haku, muttered something to Zabuza, who replied and nodded at Team Seven. Haku disappeared in a swirl of water from the ground using his teleportation jutsu and reappeared right in front of Sasuke. He was holding a senbon in one hand, and he lashed out with it before his feet even hit the ground. Sasuke was just as quick. He matched Haku's blow with the kunai he still had in his hand. They struck at each other several more times, quick as cobras, before Haku caught Sasuke's knife in a parry that locked the two weapons together. Kakashi grabbed Tazuna and hauled him away from the fight, ordering Gaara and Sakura to leave the masked ninja to Sasuke.

"I really don't want to have to kill you," Haku said to Sasuke, "but I don't suppose you'll just go away quietly, will you?"

"Don't be stupid." Sasuke replied.

"I thought as much…however, you won't be able to match my speed for long, and I've laid the groundwork for two attacks."

"Two?"

"Firstly, there's the water splashed all around us. Secondly, I've trapped one of your hands with this parrying move, which leaves you only one hand free to defend yourself from my attacks!"

Gaara saw the enemy shinobi begin waving his free hand in Sasuke's face. For a moment he thought that the masked one was making rude hand gestures in his teammate's face, in an effort to make him lose his cool. Then he realized that if Haku's other hand had been free, he would have been forming hand signs. It was astounding. Iruka had been adamant that both hands were required for hand seals; to _circulate_ chakra, there had to be a _circuit_. That was why ninja were advised to target the arms if vital areas could not be hit. It was like pulling the fangs out of a cobra.

Apparently this snake would not be so easily disabled. Haku finished weaving his signs, then stamped twice on the ground. The water scattered on the ground about the two combatants shot into the air and solidified into dozens of long needles. For a fraction of a second, they stayed still. Then they converged on Sasuke like heat-seeking rockets. In a move Gaara was uncertain he could duplicate, Sasuke leapt upward like a bullet, weaving between the needles above him and going high into the air. He flung a handful of shuriken at Haku, who flipped backwards out of the way. The last one ricocheted off of the bridge railing with a clang. Haku swung his masked face skyward, where Sasuke had been.

He was already behind him.

"You're not so fast." Sasuke said condescendingly, "Now you're the one who has to worry about defending himself from my attacks!"

Sasuke lashed out with his weapon hand, going for his opponent's throat. Haku deftly blocked the Uchiha's strike with his forearm. Sasuke did not miss a beat. With a flick of the wrist, he sent the kunai in his hand straight towards Haku's masked face. But the enemy ninja had reflexes the likes of which Gaara had never seen before, because he ducked the weapon so fast that it did not even ruffle his hair.

Sasuke's follow-up kick to Haku's face did the job just fine.

Haku flew backward, a spattering of blood spraying from underneath his mask. He skidded to a halt at Zabuza's feet, twenty feet away. Sasuke smoothed out his shirt as if he had stumbled on a loose shoelace and said, "You're fast, I'm faster."

"You had that coming for underestimating my team," Kakashi admonished, "and for name calling. These kids may not look like much, but Sasuke and Gaara are some of the highest-rated rookies in Konoha. Sakura is one of our sharpest minds. And last but not least, let's not forget our own comedy ninja: the maverick show-stopper Naruto Uzumaki."

Zabuza laughed raucously, then turned to Haku and said, "Haku, do you understand that if this carries on you could end up being killed by the very hands of the person you attempted to spare?"

"What a pity." Haku said.He lifted himself to his feet with movements that were precise and controlled. Apparently, the blow to his head had was not enough to damage him. He formed an odd hand seal, and Gaara sensed his chakra double in intensity. The redhead felt a chill as he felt the enemy's strength increasing so much, then realized that the temperature of the air had really dropped several degrees. Abruptly, large blobs of water floated into the air. They spread out into rough rectangles, then froze solid into opaque slabs of ice. Then Haku walked into the back of one of the mirrors and disappeared into it. What startled Gaara most was the expression on Sasuke's face as the mirrors came up. Usually he was the picture of composure. But his expression as the water turned to ice shook Gaara to the core, because it was the same expression that people wore before they were enveloped in sand and crushed to death.

_Not him_, Gaara thought frenziedly, _not a friend_. He was moving without feeling his legs. He heard, as if from far away, Kakashi shouting at him. Then he saw blurs of movement in his peripheral vision, which a distant part of Gaara's mind noted was the two jonin trading blows. It made little difference to him, because he was within the shell of ice slabs inside of two seconds. He saw that the sides of the ice facing inward were reflective, like mirrors. Disturbingly, each one bore the image of Haku in their center. Each image drew a senbon out of the inside of his shirt. One image flickered briefly, only for a fraction of a second. Sasuke brought a hand up to his face. A cut had appeared on his cheek, bright red blood covered his fingertips when he drew his hand back. _Not good_, Gaara thought.

Just then, he felt a slight tickling sensation on the side of his face. Gaara brushed a finger irritably across his cheekbone, and felt nerve endings screech in protest. He started to bring a hand up to clutch the side of his face, then froze when he saw his hand. Because what he was seeing was not real. Could not be real. It was impossible, like water catching fire or a butterfly destroying a brick wall. Blood was on his hand. _Gaara's_ blood. There was a _cut_ on his cheek. He was _bleeding_.

Gaara had been given all of the lectures that a ninja must never show emotion, especially not fear, in the presence of the enemy. He had hardly paid any mind to them before; Gaara feared nothing for himself. Why should he? Shukaku barred all damage from his body with the sand barrier. It did not stop Gaara from hating the demon, but now that he had been injured for the first time in years he could not help but feel abandoned. He could not help but feel fear. He stared at Haku's images with wide eyes. Then they all began to flicker, like individual frames of a movie reel. Gaara saw it before he felt it. Droplets of blood flying from fresh cuts all over his body and Sasuke's in front of his eyes.

He yelled in pain at the same time as Sasuke. Sand waved about sluggishly, like a drunken brawler swinging at an opponent after he had moved out of reach. The Uchiha cursed under his breath, then wove several hand seals before inhaling sharply. When he exhaled, a stream of flame issued from his mouth. Gaara could feel the heat from where he was standing. Sasuke moved his head from side to side, enveloping as many of the mirrors in flame as he could. When the fire faded away, all of the mirrors were perfectly intact.

"That pitiful flame will never touch my ice mirrors." Haku said. He made another pass at the two genin. Gaara tried to grab him with sand, but Haku was so blasted fast that he could not even _see_ him move, much less react in time to do anything to him once he had moved. Fresh blood spattered onto the ground. "The technique I'm using is part of the art of teleportation, and the only tool I need to perform it is the mirrors that hold my image. I move so fast that you might as well be standing still! But I'm not a cruel person. I'll end this quickly. At least this way you won't have to watch your comrades fall."

Gaara saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He jerked his head around reflexively, and froze when he registered what his eyes were seeing. Sasuke was slumped on the ground. He was not moving. Three needles had been driven through his neck, and blood was oozing out of the wounds. Gaara's knees quaked. Sasuke was dead. Then he felt a presence behind him. He heard, from a great distance, that someone was sorry. The next thing he felt was an instant's sharp pressure on his neck, accompanied by a similar sensation on the front of his throat. There was no pain, only a dull sensation of soft tissue giving way to sharp steel. He lost all feeling in his entire body. His head felt like a lead balloon with no support. The world tilted sideways, which Gaara realized after a few moments meant that he had fallen to the ground. He could see his sand, which had gallantly risen to his defense so many times, fall to the ground like a snake with its head cut off. It seemed an appropriate last sight.

Gaara closed his eyes, and the world went away.

* * *

Naruto cursed softly to himself as he sprinted along the bridge. Today was not his day. It really had not been his week either. First he struggled all week to try and catch up to Gaara and Sakura in the tree-climbing technique. Then when he finally did master the damned technique, they left him behind on the day Kakashi predicted the final battle would be. He swore again and ran faster. Naruto hated being the weakest link in the group. What he hated even more was the fact that Gaara allowed himself to be held back by him. 

He might not be the smartest genin in Konoha, but Naruto was not a complete fool. He had always known, deep down, that Gaara had to be failing his exams on purpose. His friend was one of the brightest students in the academy, of course something as insignificant as test anxiety would make him fail. Naruto had never been able to bring himself to call Gaara's bluff. He did not want to be alone any more than Gaara did. It still rankled with him. Gaara always took the time to help him study, to eat ramen with him, to help him practice his jutsu. On the first day Naruto had met Gaara, the redhead had saved him from being beaten. For weeks afterward, Gaara had spent every waking moment with him until the villagers had at last given up. It was a mounting debt that Naruto never got to pay off.

Naruto squinted as he continued to run. He could see dark shapes thought the fog now. There was a large round blur in the center of the bridge. He was unable to see around it and concluded that his teammates must be on the other side of the thing. As he came closer to it, he could see that it was not one solid mass, but several large slabs of what appeared to be ice floating in the air. Naruto wondered what kind of jutsu that was. Perhaps it was meant to imprison, like the water ball technique Zabuza had used in the last fight? No matter, his team was comprised of some of the best ninja from Konoha. There was nothing they could not overcome.

Abruptly, all of the pieces of ice vanished. Naruto's heart leapt into his throat when he saw the masked ninja from before standing where the shell had been. There was a bundle laying on the ground at his feet. It was very long and thin, almost as long as a short person was tall. Maybe it was some sort of bag with spare weapons in it. Naruto grinned broadly. He would slow down a bit, sneak up on the masked one and jump him from behind before he could get his armaments. He had to try hard not to chortle at the ease of it. Everyone would be impressed if he managed to take out Zabuza's accomplice by himself. Naruto had slowed down considerably now, he was quite close to the masked shinobi. The bundle at his feet was starting to take shape and gain clarity. No, wait, it was _two_ bundles. Did Zabuza have his assistant carry around spare swords? It would not surprise Naruto if Kakashi had managed to destroy that monstrously large blade of his. If it was a sword, it was very lumpy, and Zabuza must have a strange taste in weapon covers because this one looked almost _human_, and on one end there was a shock of red-

_No…_

It couldn't be.

_It's a trick…_

This was an illusion of some sort, surely. Sakura had told everyone about the genjutsu Kakashi had used on her. This must be something similar. Zabuza had seen him coming and hit him with something to neutralize him.

_Not him…_

Or maybe between Tazuna's house and the bridge he had caught some weird disease that caused hallucinations. No, he must still be asleep in his futon. This was all just a nightmare. Naruto sighed in relief at this thought. Yes, this was just a bad dream, and now that he knew he would wake up. He counted the seconds off, patiently assuring himself that this was just the cause of a stressful week and eating too close to bedtime. He made it to three seconds before his confidence began to crack, and when it broke every last bit of warmth in his body went with it.

_He's gone…_

Naruto wished he had the strength of will to gouge out his eyes. But even if he did, he would see this for the rest of his life. He would see his best friend limp on the ground, covered in fresh cuts, blood all around him. The masked shinobi stood over him, surveying his handiwork. It must have been him. He was holding senbon that looked just like the ones that were in Gaara. He was dimly aware that Sasuke was in a similar position a few feet away from him, but for some reason it troubled Naruto much less than Gaara. Sasuke was just a side dish to the entrée from hell that had been laid out before him.

_My best friend…My only friend…_

Naruto's fingers twitched. The movement spread up his hands to his wrists, making both of the appendages flap around feebly. It continued upward to his elbows, then his shoulders. His arms were shaking, and it continued to spread like venom from a snakebite. It penetrated deep into his chest and went up his neck to burrow its way into his skull. Now his entire body was trembling uncontrollably. His teeth chattered. There was a lump in his throat, as if he were about to vomit. His vision blurred.

_Gaara is dead._

Burning pressure in his chest alerted Naruto to the fact that he had not taken a breath for quite a while now. He had forgotten the finer points of the technique for it. He did not remember making this much noise before. All he could manage was to harshly suck air into his lungs and then brutally force it out again. Apparently it was noticeable, because the masked ninja standing over Gaara turned his face to Naruto. He could see no eyes in the white porcelain face. So, this was what death looked like. Naruto did not even think to fight back. If Gaara had already gone, what was there left for him?

Then something odd happened. Naruto could feel something high in his chest. It was hot, like a sphere of molten lava had been implanted in him. A second later, fire began to spread throughout his limbs. His senses doubled in sharpness. His eyes penetrated the fog utterly, until he could see every fold and crease on the enemy ninja's clothes. He could hear the gentle rasp of breath against the mask. He could smell the thick iron tang of spilled blood. It coated the inside of his sinuses until he could smell nothing else. For some reason, it made his chest feel even hotter.

Naruto felt his neck muscles move, although he could not recall telling them to do so. When they stopped, he was looking directly at Gaara's face. His friend's eyes were closed. At least he finally got to rest. The thought made him angry. It made him recall all of the wrongs that had been done to Gaara. Ousted from his homeland. Implanted with a monster. Shunned by his peers. Naruto felt himself become even angrier, and it was wonderful because if he was angry he wouldn't have to think about all of the things Gaara had never gotten to do, all that had been denied him. All Naruto had really wanted since he had met him was to give something back, to make Gaara realize what a monumental gift his friendship had been all of these long years. But now it was too late.

_**There is one last thing you can offer him…**_

What was that?

_**Vengeance…**_

It was in his head.

_**Make the one who did this to him wail in anguish…**_

Naruto's vision turned red. Damn it, whatever this thing was, it was right. He would make what short time this masked bastard had left a miasma of pain and torment. Gaara deserved that much. If it managed to help distract Naruto from his own suffering, well, that was just a bonus.

_**Make me feel alive…**_

Naruto willed himself to be next to the masked ninja, and without feeling himself move he was there. Haku was a head taller than him. Five minutes ago, that might have mattered. Now, all it meant was that he had to reach a bit farther to crack him across the jaw. Haku howled in pain, grabbing at the side of his face. It annoyed Naruto. What right did he have to complain when Gaara was gone? Maybe if he knocked the air out of his lungs he'd shut up. So, he hopped up and planted both feet hard into his opponent's abdomen. The masked shinobi flew backward and landed on his back. He made choked gagging noises for a few moments before he began to gasp in air. Naruto smirked in fierce satisfaction.

Haku struggled to his feet, blood dribbling out of his mask. Naruto was already right in front of him. The blonde kicked him hard in the kneecap, almost bending the joint backward and straining the tendons. Haku screamed and staggered on his good leg. He swiped blindly at Naruto to buy himself some breathing room. Naruto simply caught his arm by the wrist and squeezed it, grinding the bones together. Still yelling in pain, Haku drew a senbon and stabbed it through Naruto's forearm. The blonde stared at it for a moment, frowning slightly, and released his crushing grip on Haku's arm. The masked shinobi hobbled backwards as quickly as he could with a damaged knee, breathing raggedly. Naruto grabbed the senbon with his thumb and forefinger, then pulled it free of his arm. It healed so fast it did not even bleed. He snapped the senbon in half, then rushed forward and drove his elbow into Haku's stomach.

The masked shinobi folded at the waist, and Naruto kicked him hard in the face as he fell. The blow was so powerful that the mask cracked in half, breaking Haku's nose and knocking him flat on his back. Naruto frowned down at him. He knew him from somewhere. He reached down and grabbed a fistful of Haku's hair and lifted him up. When he got his feet under him, Naruto let him go.

"You…I met you in the clearing the other day."

"Yes. My name is Haku."

"You work for Zabuza?"

"Yes."

"You killed my friends?"

"Yes."

"Any last requests?"

"Just, please, make it quick."

"You're not going to ask for mercy?"

"Would you give it to me?"

"No, but that's not an answer to my question."

"Did it ever occur to you that I might not want to answer?"

"Did it ever occur to _you_ that I can rip out your intestines and beat you to death with them?"

"Very well. Being a good shinobi for Zabuza-san is the only thing I exist for. You have defeated me. I no longer have a reason to exist. I am, in fact, glad that you are going to kill me."

"I'm glad you told me that."

"Why?"

"Because now I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to break your spine and paralyze you. Then I'm going to let you live. If living without being able to serve him is the thing you fear most, then that's what I'm going to do to you."

Before Haku could even say _you wouldn't dare_, Naruto had already punched him in the face. Haku savagely struck back, not even feeling the pain anymore. He was backed into a corner now. For the first exchange of blows, he had still been a cool and collected shinobi. Now he was like Naruto, a wild animal fighting to kill. Senbon found their way into his hand and he slashed at Naruto's face with them. The strike caught him across the nose and grazed his eyes. The blonde howled in pain and stuck out blindly. Haku crashed into the bridge railing with such force that the senbon flew out of his hand.

Naruto shook his head as his eyes healed. He blinked furiously in an effort to get the blood out of them. Haku was already charging at him. Vision still blurred, Naruto swung his foot at Haku's legs in an attempt to trip him up. The kick struck Haku in the side of his knee, the same knee Naruto had almost dislocated earlier. He screamed and fell. Naruto's eyes were clear now, and he raised his foot to stomp on Haku. The shinobi caught his foot mid-strike and punched him right in the groin. Sickening agony folded Naruto in half, and Haku stabbed him under the chin. Naruto could feel the needle penetrate the underside of his jaw, his tongue, and the roof of his mouth. He bellowed as the iron tang of blood filled his mouth. He grabbed Haku by the front of his shirt and threw him away with all of his might. Then he tore the senbon out of his mouth.

He roared in pain and rage. Naruto's entire body felt like it was on fire. The wounds he was taking felt like minor stings, and they healed within seconds. All of his heart was filled with bloodlust. Haku was sprawled on the ground a considerable distance away, trying feebly to get to his feet. Naruto drew a kunai and hurled it at him. The weapon lodged itself in Haku's thigh, so deep that it scraped against his femur. He threw up. Without a demon to shield his mind with rage and heal his body, the pain was compounding itself and battering him into the ground. Shakily, he rose to one knee. He dared not pull the kunai out of his leg. If it had severed his femoral artery and he pulled it out, he would bleed to death in seconds. As he tried to make his stabbed leg take some of his weight. A shadow covered him, and Haku could not stop himself from shaking. He looked up into Naruto's face, hoping that he could convince the boy to show some mercy and kill him.

What he saw froze the words in his throat.

Naruto's kind blue eyes had turned red. The markings on his cheeks seemed much more pronounced. His lips were pulled back from his teeth, which had lengthened into fangs, in a feral snarl of rage. His fingernails had turned into claws. Blood stained the tips were Naruto had dug them into his palms to make fists. Haku knew that despite the threats Naruto had been throwing around, the blonde would not be letting him live. He was too angry now, too drunk with bloodlust. It was a tremendous relief. He tried to peer around Naruto so that his last sight might be of his master, the man who had given him a purpose. When he saw him, he knew what he had to do.

Naruto stared down at Haku, trying to work up the nerve to end his life. Once more, he felt his neck muscles moving. He was now looking over his shoulder at Gaara. His friend's body had not moved. His face was still that of a person asleep. He looked back down at Haku. He tried for a moment to see him as another person, but could not. All he could see was an animal that had robbed him of his friend. Maybe if Zabuza had never found him, he could have had a normal life. He would never know. Naruto raised his fist with a roar, and struck at Haku's head. He was not holding back. He fully intended to take his head clean off, if he could.

His fist struck air.

Haku had, at the last instant, used his teleportation jutsu to avoid the blow. That was okay. Naruto would not lose him now. He could sense his enemy's chakra only a short distance behind him. It was fading rapidly. The jutsu must use up a lot of chakra. Naruto turned and froze in surprise. Haku was dead. And, he had to admit, it had been done with a lot more style than Naruto himself could have managed. Haku had thrown himself between Kakashi and Zabuza. From the looks of it, Kakashi had been about to finish Zabuza off and Haku had taken the blow instead. What a blow it had been, too, because Kakashi had blown a hole right through Haku's chest.

At the sight of his dead opponent, Naruto felt a great calm wash over him. He felt the blazing heat leave his body, taking most of his strength with it. He wobbled for a moment, but managed to stay on his feet. Naruto could not remember ever being this tired before. Numbly, he walked over to Gaara and sank to his knees before him. He had heard that the dead were supposed to look peaceful. Maybe they only meant the ones that died peacefully, because Gaara just looked like he had been pushed through a blender. Needles were still sticking out of him, and it hurt even more to see him run through like a pin cushion. Delicately, Naruto reached out and plucked the senbon that was jutting out of Gaara's throat. He did it slowly. Even though Gaara was dead, he did not want to do any more damage to him. When it finally came out, it glistened with blood.

Gaara let out a hacking cough and grabbed Naruto's wrist.

* * *

The world came back in a rush, and Gaara was all to happy to welcome it back. He had no idea how long he had been out. It could have been hours or days. It had been…weird. Shukaku had not allowed him to sink into a trance like Haku had intended. Instead, it had been like being in a waking coma. He had been foggily aware of what was going on around him, but he could not see or move. Gaara had even been able to sense the massive, monstrous chakra that Naruto had summoned to fight Haku. He also knew that Naruto had though that he was dead, and it made him feel supremely guilty to cause so much pain to his friend. 

He continued to cough, clearing his airway of the blood that had seeped into it from the stab wound in his throat. After a moment, he was able to lever himself to his feet with Naruto's help. Every muscle in his body was throbbing from being without enough blood for too long a time. He breathed deeply, enjoying the feeling of his chest expanding and air rushing into his lungs. Naruto was jabbering in his ear constantly, and for once Gaara didn't try to slow him down. It was how Naruto covered his feelings up, with an incessant flow of words. A little repression was just what the doctor ordered right now.

"Naruto."

"What?"

"I think you're forgetting somebody."

"What are you-oh crap, Sasuke!"

Gaara had to remind Naruto not to rip all of the senbon out at once, and to do it gently. His throat felt like he had been gargling with razor blades and lemon juice. Ten seconds later, Sasuke was back on his feet, cursing all masked shinobi and their damned needles. Gaara chuckled, then stopped when he saw Sasuke's eyes. They had turned red, and they had spots in them. He had Sharingan now. Gaara wondered when that had happened.

"Well!" Kakashi called over to them, "I'm glad everything worked out in the end!"

Zabuza was standing a few paces away from Kakashi. He had kunai lodged in both of his arms, and his giant blade was laying at his feet. The missing-nin was panting heavily, and his arms hung nerveless at his sides. Kakashi himself had a large cut on his chest, but appeared to be otherwise uninjured.

"I'm not so sure about that." Gaara said, "As long as Gato is alive, Tazuna-san is in danger. And a bridge is a lot easier to blow up than it is to build."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about Gato any longer." Kakashi said cheerfully, "I sent him a letter the other day. It should take care of him quite nicely. As well as whatever building he happens to be in when he opens it."

Naruto laughed raucously, "There's no kill like overkill!"

"Overkill, indeed," Zabuza said, "You killed my pawn and you killed my paycheck. I think some payback is in order."

"You're arms have been disabled." Kakashi said evenly, "No katas. No chakra. No jutsu. You stand no chance. Give up."

"Never!" Zabuza roared defiantly. Using his foot, he flipped a discarded kunai into the air and caught it between his teeth. He charged at Kakashi, crouched low to the ground. The jonin watched him come, with a somewhat mournful air. He reached into his equipment pouch, then frowned. It was empty. Sakura noticed her teacher's problem and threw him the one she had been holding. Kakashi caught it easily, just in time to swing it at Zabuza. It slashed through the missing-nin's throat, killing him instantly, and the mighty Demon of the Mist crashed to the ground, dead.

The mist that had clung to the bridge for so long dissipated. For what seemed like the first time in ages, Team Seven was able to bask in the sunlight. Tazuna peered over Sakura's shoulder at the dead enemy ninja. He asked tentatively, "Is it over?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, "It's over."

* * *

Nuff said. Please review! 


	10. Familiar Faces

We get to see a lot more Gaara-Yashamaru interaction in this chapter. For those of you who like him, Yashamaru will have a much more active role later in the story. I was surprised at how long this chapter became once I finished writing it, I thought I would be able to cram more of the original storyline into it. Oh well.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has sent me a review. Most prominent among them are Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, who has reviewed every chapter thus far, ddd, Kurodarkness, Fehize, Kina Lupi, and Raidon Phantom. Thank you very much for your input.

I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter Ten: Familiar Faces**

Gaara took a moment to savor the silence. Team Seven had just returned from a mission, which had been snatched from the jaws of defeat by a joint effort between Sasuke, Kakashi, and himself. Naruto had been beaten rather badly, once more in an effort to show up Sasuke. If Gaara had not snatched Naruto with his sand, he probably would have been forced to carry Naruto's corpse back to Konoha. Predictably, it had resulted in another epic Naruto-Sasuke argument which left Naruto fuming and Sasuke just as sullen as before. Ever since the mission to the Land of Waves, Naruto and Sasuke had been on even worse terms. By now, Gaara had learned to give Naruto a little space after a blowout with his nemesis.

Aside from the slight pall of Naruto's temperament, Gaara was in a fairly good mood. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the sky was a deep shade of blue. Gaara walked around the city streets, enjoying the temperate climate as only someone who had lived in a desert could. In Suna, all one could accomplish by walking around outside was getting sunburned and becoming dehydrated. When Gaara thought about his homeland, he could not help but think that it was in every way inferior to his new home. Suna was harsh and inhospitable, and it valued only strength. Konoha was warm and comfortable, and managed to remain the most powerful nation despite its relaxed attitude.

Speaking of relaxed, Gaara could now sense Naruto nearby, as well as three small children. They were radiating a mixed sense of apprehension and happiness that reminded him of kids playing tag. Sakura was there now too, and she was angry. The kids and Naruto must have annoyed her, not an uncommon thing for Naruto to accomplish. Smiling to himself, Gaara tracked their progress. His smile faded when he detected two familiar presences, both of them faintly malevolent in the way of hardened shinobi.

Gaara slid himself into an alleyway between two restaurants and scaled the short wall to the rooftops. He began to leap from one roof to the next, simultaneously dampening his chakra so that he would not be detected. He continued to monitor Naruto as one of the kids in his group ran into the two familiar presences. Gaara increased his pace as he sensed feelings of aggression and savage glee building between the two groups. He jumped back down to the street and rounded a corner to finally reach the scene he had sensed, and even though he had been expecting it, his stomach still clenched painfully.

Sure enough, Naruto and his group were facing off against two shinobi, who were facing away from Gaara. One of them was holding a child by the front of his scarf. He was dressed head to toe in black, with two flaps on the top of his head that looked somewhat like cat ears. On his back was a bundle wrapped in bandages with a mop of hair sticking out of the top. The other was a girl in a baggy white dress, and she had her blonde hair bunched into four ponytails at the back of her head. She carried a large metallic container roughly the size of his gourd, which Gaara knew to be an oversized fan used for wind jutsu. They had not changed that much in six years, Temari and Kankuro, except perhaps that they had become somewhat more hostile. Doubtlessly, the work of their father.

Gaara stopped concealing his chakra, and allowed it to wash over the others in the street. Naruto and Sakura looked merely surprised that he had managed to go unnoticed by them. Temari and Kankuro whipped around so fast that they almost fell over themselves. Kankuro dropped the child, who scampered over to Naruto. Both of Gaara's siblings unconsciously reached for their weapons, and they looked at Gaara as if they were seeing a ghost.

"Hello brother and sister," Gaara said. He eyed Kankuro's bundle and Temari's fan for a moment, then said, "I see you both still enjoy playing with your toys."

"You stay away from us, murderer!" Kankuro snarled.

"You're the ones who came here," Gaara reasoned, "its not really fair to ask me to leave when you sought me out."

"We didn't seek you out." Temari said, eyes wide, "We're here for the chunin exams."

"Chunin exams? What are they?"

"Find out for yourself! We didn't do anything, why don't you just leave us alone?"

"Actually it looked like you were beating up a child and my squad mates over there." Gaara said, pointing at Naruto, Sakura, and the three kids.

"They ran into us first." Kankuro said defensively, "Besides, what do you care about some group of kids? How many innocent people have _you_ killed in your life? What about Baki? What about Yashamaru?!"

Gaara frowned in bewilderment, "What _about_ Yashamaru?"

"Don't play dumb, we know what happened all of those years ago."

"Wait a minute, do you think that I killed him?"

"We don't think," Temari growled, "we _know_. You killed him, and when they sent Baki after you to get you back under control, you killed him too! Our uncle and our teacher in one fell swoop! Then you fled the country to escape your punishment."

"Hang on," Naruto interjected, "Yashamaru isn't dead. He's been living here with Gaara! I see him all the time, he's fine!"

"You…you're lying." Kankuro said uncertainly, "You have to be lying."

"What I'm wondering," Gaara said, "Is who told I had killed Yashamaru in the first place."

"That would be me." A familiar voice answered.

Adrenaline flooded Gaara's veins at the sound. Without thinking, he sprang forward a step and spun. Sure enough, his father, the Kazekage, was standing calmly in his blue and white robes. As always, a veil obscured the lower part of his face, allowing only his emotionless eyes to be seen. One of his hands was outstretched, as if he had been about to lay it on Gaara's shoulder. Years ago, Gaara might have felt bloodlust at the sight of him. By now, all he felt was a weary desire never to see him again.

"Hello Father." Gaara said, "I've got to compliment you on your story. It covered all of the loose ends nicely. Shall I tell them the truth now?"

The Kazekage chuckled and replied, "Oh, no, I'll tell them." He looked at Temari and Kankuro and said, "I lied. Six years ago, I judged Gaara to be a threat to the village and ordered him eliminated. He killed the first assassin to find him, and then he escaped with Yashamaru."

For a moment, everyone simply stared at him. Then, Temari recovered enough to ask, "Why? Why did you lie to us?"

"Don't forget your place, child." the Kazekage said, moving from cheerful to stern in a heartbeat, "I lied to you because I judged it to be necessary. You were not the only ones who this information was kept from, either. Only the ninja I sent after Gaara know the truth. If everyone knew I had attempted to rein Gaara in, and failed, the blow to morale would have been huge."

"Yes," Gaara said sarcastically, "because I was such a positive influence on morale in the first place."

"Frankly, you weren't. You were a drain of resources and an uncontrollable loose cannon."

"Not my fault. You made me."

"True enough." He motioned his other children, "Come Temari, Kankuro, its time for us to leave."

Obediently, the two Suna-nin brushed past Gaara and stood beside their father. He laid a hand on each of their shoulders. It might have been an affectionate scene if Temari and Kankuro had not been casting nervous glances at their father.

Gaara crossed his arms and said, "What, no hug for me?"

The Kazekage's eyes crinkled as he smiled, even though they remained cold and dead. There was a puff of smoke, and then all three of them were gone. He had not even had to make a hand sign like Kakashi. Gaara stared at where his family had been, frowning slightly. He had never precisely disliked his siblings, but they had been so afraid of him because of Shukaku that they had never really gotten to know each other. Naruto and Sakura joined him in staring at where the Suna-nin had been.

"That was your family?" Naruto asked. He sounded stricken.

"Yes." Gaara replied.

"And I thought mine was crazy." Sakura said, "You guys looked like you were a breath away from killing each other."

"We would be," Gaara said glumly, "except that neither side knows for sure if they're stronger."

"What?"

"Forget it. Is anyone else hungry? There's nothing quite as draining as a family reunion."

"Ichiraku!" Naruto bellowed enthusiastically, "I'm buying!"

"No thanks," Sakura said, "I've got something I need to do."

As it turned out, Gaara only had to drag Naruto by his jacket for three blocks before he stopped trying to chase after Sakura. At that point, he was closer to Ichiraku than to the girl, and one desire overtook the other. By his second bowl of ramen, Naruto's mood had climbed to its normal heights. He ordered his third and leaned back in his seat to wait. Gaara continued to eat his ramen at his usual sedate pace. After a few moments, he noticed that Naruto was studying him curiously.

"What?" Gaara asked.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Naruto asked.

"Doesn't what bother me?"

"Your family. Your dad told your brother and sister that you had killed your uncle, so they've thought that you were a murderer for all of this time."

"Well, I technically am a murderer. Even before I fled Suna, I had killed several people because of Shukaku."

"But that doesn't count! It wasn't really you that killed them, you wouldn't have done it on your own. And you're avoiding the question anyway."

"Very well, in all honesty it doesn't bother me all that much. My father's behavior today was nothing new. You're forgetting, he was cold enough to have Shukaku implanted in me in the first place, a process that killed my mother. I've never thought of him as my father. As for my siblings, they were so scared of Shukaku that they never really spent any time with me. If I feel anything for them, its pity that they had to stay with our father in Suna."

Naruto seemed to ponder what Gaara had said for a moment. Then his third bowl of ramen arrived, and his usual grin spread across his face. He picked up his chopsticks and resumed inhaling food as quickly as was physically possible for a human. For the first time in his memory, Gaara could not tell if Naruto's somber mood had really improved or if he was wearing a mask. He returned to his food nonetheless, deciding that if Naruto was bothered he would mention it. He was not the most patient or subtle of individuals, not when he wasn't fighting anyway.

"Yo guys!"

Gaara and Naruto turned in their seats. Kakashi was in the street outside of the ramen stand. He was holding a handful of folded sheets of paper with the Hokage's seal on them. He sat beside them and ordered a small ramen to go, and passed each of his students a paper. Gaara opened his and skimmed it. It was a registration form.

"What is this for?" Naruto asked.

"I've nominated everyone in team seven for the chunin selection exam." Kakashi replied, "If you want to try to become a chunin, just fill that out and turn it in to room 301 at the ninja academy by four o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow."

"Really!" Naruto shouted, "All right! This will put me on the fast track to becoming Hokage!"

Naruto slammed a fistful of money on the counter to pay for the ramen he and Gaara had eaten and sprinted down the street towards his apartment. Gaara and Kakashi stared after him for a moment, then at each other.

"My family is here." Gaara informed him.

"I know it is." Kakashi said matter-of-factly, "If you recall, I escorted your family and yourself to the Hokage's office the day you arrived here."

"I mean the rest of them are here now, for the chunin exam." Gaara explained irritably, "My father and brother and sister."

"Oh, I see. Are they ninja as well?"

"My father is the Kazekage."

Kakashi stared at him for a moment, then bowed to him while remaining in his seat. He said in an officious tone, "I didn't realize I was in the presence of royalty. I suppose that means that those ferocious looking children of his are your brother and sister."

"Yes."

"Is there some reason that your brother enjoys makeup more than your sister?"

"It's some sort of archaic warrior tradition from the old days of Suna. They meant roughly the same thing then that facial tattoos mean now. The reason that the marks aren't tattooed is so that the warrior can change the pattern as his prowess increases."

"You seemed to be awfully knowledgeable about it for it being an archaic tradition."

"It was the defense my brother offered when Temari asked him about it the first time he painted his face."

"Does anyone else in Suna practice this ancient warrior tradition?"

"They didn't when I was there."

"Well, it's good to be unique, I guess."

"Very open-minded of you."

"I try to be."

The proprietor of the ramen stand set Kakashi's order down in front of him, and Kakashi paid and thanked him. Gaara bade his teacher farewell, and left his empty bowl for the hospital. He decided that if Yashamaru didn't know that their family was in Konoha yet, then he had to as soon as possible. A short walk later, Gaara was entering the bustling lobby of the Konoha hospital. He knew that in larger civilian cities, there were separate buildings for hospitals that treated patients in need of emergency care and those that took care of people with normal injuries and illnesses. In hidden villages, the two were combined, so that one minute a child with a mild case of flu might walk through the door, and a jonin with a limb blown off might be rushed in the next.

Gaara walked up to the attendant at the welcome desk, a middle-aged woman named Kaoru, and asked where Yashamaru was. She smiled at him from behind her desk, it was not the first time Gaara had visited his uncle at work, glanced at a clock mounted on the wall, and told Gaara that he was currently in the break room. Gaara thanked Kaoru and began ascending flights of stairs towards the employee lounge. He had to flatten himself against the wall when a white-uniformed member of the Konoha medic-nin corps, blood spattered on the front of his clothes, sprinted down the stairs. Yashamaru worked on the third floor of the hospital, where a majority of the civilian population went for their annual checkups.

After passing through a brightly colored waiting room with various toys designed for small children and walking a short distance down a hall, Gaara finally reached the lounge. The room had a medium sized table, several cabinets, and a small refrigerator in it. Three doors led into bathrooms and a room with bunk beds for doctors that had to work late. The main room was deserted except for Yashamaru, who was eating his lunch. He looked up and smiled when Gaara entered the room.

"Hello, Gaara," He said happily, "What brings you here? Has Naruto knocked himself unconscious again?"

Gaara chortled briefly and took a seat across the table from his uncle, "No, I'm afraid it's a bit more serious than that."

"Skull fractures are quite serious, even to those who can heal at such an unnatural rate."

"I just bumped into Temari and Kankuro half an hour ago. They were terrorizing small children and intimidating my teammates, minus Sasuke, so they apparently haven't changed much. Father came to collect them. He apparently told them that I had killed you and fled the country in order to keep them loyal."

All of the color drained from Yashamaru's face.

"Fuck." He said quietly.

Gaara's jaw actually fell open in shock. He had never heard his uncle curse before, not even when they had been escaping Suna, and he had _never_ used a word that foul. Yashamaru stood up and rounded the table. He placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder, and the redhead felt a pulse of energy flow through him as his uncle searched for injuries with medical jutsu.

"Did he hurt you?" Yashamaru asked, his voice raspy and harsh, "Remember that he is the Kazekage. He has access to poisons that could be transferred by a touch or a breath. Did he do _anything_ to you?"

"He didn't lay a finger on me, and he was wearing that veil, just like he always does. Relax, Yashamaru, I'm fine. I think you're having a panic attack. Calm down."

Yashamaru did not calm down. He had a look on his face that Gaara had not seen in six years. It was the look he had worn when he had killed the two jonin in Suna to allow them to escape, the one that said he had an objective that nobody would stop him from achieving it. It was one of the most unnerving things Gaara had ever seen. He had hoped that they could have left it behind in the desert, along with everything else that caused him pain. Now it seemed that the most painful bits of Suna had decided to come after him.

"We're going to speak to the Hokage about this. Come along."

The two of them retraced Gaara's route out of the hospital. Many curious glances were cast their way as they went. Yashamaru was well liked by his coworkers, and he was known for his kind and patient disposition. Nobody at the hospital had ever seen him angry before.

Abruptly, a man stepped directly into their path, blocking their progress. He was short, only an inch or two taller than Gaara, and in his late fifties. The crown of his head was bald, with grey hair forming a band around the sides of his head. He was one of the most experienced civilian doctors in the hospital, and looked down on all shinobi with a passion. For some reason, he had always been somewhat more hostile towards Yashamaru than anyone else. Yashamaru usually shrugged it off with his usual pleasant tolerance, but today he was in no mood to be provoked.

"Yashamaru, where do you think you're going?" the doctor asked brusquely, "Your shift isn't over for another four hours."

Yashamaru looked at the man with a very uncharacteristic scowl of impatience, which the smaller man ignored, "I have urgent family business that needs to be taken care of, Doctor Hanzao. Please get out of my way."

Hanzao looked Gaara over for a moment, then swiveled his gaze back to Yashamaru.

"He seems fine to me. What's so important that it can't wait until after your shift?"

"I'm not kidding, doctor, get out of my way. I won't ask you again."

"Now you listen to me-"

Without warning, Yashamaru lashed out at the shorter man. He grabbed a fistful of the man's shirt, took one step to the right, and slammed him into the wall. For the second time in as many minutes, Gaara's mouth dropped open. Not just because Yashamaru had attacked the annoying little man that had been blocking their way, but because as he pinned him to the wall, Yashamaru was holding the one-hundred and eighty pound doctor a foot and a half off of the ground. One handed. Without a single tremor in his arm or any visual signs that he was exerting himself. Judging from the heat in his eyes, he was struggling to restrain himself from punching the obstinate doctor in the face. Every single person in the hall had stopped what they were doing and were staring at the scene unfolding before them. For the first time in Gaara's memory, the hospital was nearly silent.

"Listen you insufferable little bastard," Yashamaru snarled, "I've been tolerating your baseless abuse for years now, and if you could just leave me alone, this wouldn't be happening right now. Just because I'm a medic, don't assume I couldn't rip you into pieces so small they'd have to run tests to confirm they were from a human."

Contemptuously, Yashamaru allowed Hanzao to drop to the floor in a heap. The older man sat on the floor, breathing harshly. Not a sound was made on the entire floor as Yashamaru and Gaara exited the hospital and headed for the Hokage's office. Yashamaru's face was set into a mask of stony anger. Though the streets were crowded, Gaara and his uncle were given wide berth. They made it to the shinobi headquarters of Konoha in record time. They climbed the many flights of stairs rapidly and made it to the lobby in front of the Hokage's office.

"We need to see the Hokage," Yashamaru told the assistant, "It's urgent."

"I'm afraid that the Hokage is in the middle of a meeting," the assistant replied, "You'll have to wait."

Yashamaru nodded curtly and took a seat in one of the chairs along the wall of the lobby. He remained rigid in his seat. Gaara removed his gourd and sat beside him. He had never seen Yashamaru so livid. He decided that for once, he would try to cheer his uncle up instead of the other way around.

"You're on a slippery slope, you know." Gaara said.

Yashamaru looked at him quizzically, "What do you mean?"

"Ducking out of work early, assaulting your coworkers, demanding to see a high ranking official. If this keeps up, you might become a badass."

Yashamaru snorted in amusement.

"This is quite serious. After all, ladies love badasses."

"Are we really having this conversation now?"

"I figured it would be a good way to distract you."

"It worked. I think that might be the most disturbing thing I've ever heard you say."

"But not the most disturbing thing you've ever seen?"

"No, that would be the time you tried to mimic that big grin Naruto has."

"I remember that. It was fun. Naruto told me I looked like a baby killer."

"You did."

"You're not very supportive for a guardian."

"You're not very rebellious for a teenager."

"Very well. I'm going out after dark tonight, and I'm not going to tell you when I'll be back."

Yashamaru laughed just as the Hokage's office door opened. He and Gaara stood up at the same time, and froze as the Kazekage waked out of the open door flanked by Temari and Kankuro. The three Suna-nin halted mid-stride at the sight of Yashamaru and Gaara. Temari and Kankuro paused for a beat, then rushed at their uncle and almost knocked him to the ground as they embraced him. Despite their alienation towards Gaara, his siblings had always had a strong bond with Yashamaru. The Kazekage could not have chosen a more cruel lie to tell them than that their uncle had died.

"I can't believe it," Kankuro said, "You really are alive."

"Yes," Yashamaru replied, "I've been here the whole time. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to say goodbye. I did arrange for a friend to give you two a farewell message, but apparently he was intercepted."

The Kazekage cleared his throat from behind the happy reunion, and Temari and Kankuro stiffened. They cast nervous glances over their shoulders. Gaara would be willing to bet that their father would not look kindly on their emotional display. The two siblings started to reluctantly return to their father's side when Yashamaru halted them with a hand on their shoulders. He bent down and whispered the address of his and Gaara's apartment into their ears and said, "If you don't feel safe, just come over. You'll be welcome there."

"Yes," Gaara added, "I have much better control than I did when I was a child. Shukaku hasn't had a say in my actions for years. You have nothing to fear from me."

The two looked at Gaara dubiously, but nodded and reluctantly returned to their father's side. The Kazekage and Yashamaru stared hard at each other for a few long moments, analyzing each other as if they were about to fight. There had never been any love lost between the two men. Yashamaru had always blamed the Kazekage for ordering Gaara implanted with Shukaku, simultaneously killing his sister and scarring his nephew. Likewise, the Kazekage viewed Yashamaru as a failure of a ninja who at best was worthy only of menial tasks.

Yashamaru stared coldly at the Kazekage and said, "I'm only going to warn you once, stay away from Gaara. He's not your tool anymore. If you come anywhere near him, I'll kill you."

The Kazekage's sneer was evident, even with most of his face obscured. "That's a laugh. You've always been useless. What the hell do you think you could do against me?"

Gaara felt wind flutter at the side of his arm. He glanced behind him in annoyance to look at whatever offending window had allowed a breeze to distract him. There was no window. He looked forward and saw that Yashamaru was now right in the Kazekage's face, his nose only an inch or two from the startled village leader's.

"I'm not the same waste of space I was back in those days." Yashamaru snarled, "Konoha is much more open-minded than Suna. Here, the ninja have paved many paths to strength; many of them paths that are not available in Suna. You could learn a thing or two from them."

"What do I need to learn about strength?" The Kazekage asked, his composure recovered, "I am the leader of an entire hidden village. I required no coddling to achieve my current level of power, unlike you. You think that just because you have tricks now when you had none before that you can beat me? Attack me then, and I'll be more than happy to crush you like the bug that you are."

"Is there a problem here?"

Gaara looked toward the Hokage's office to see the old man standing in the doorway. He had an artificial smile on his face, belying the tremendous amounts of chakra and killer intent he was emanating. The Kazekage was looking at the Third with mild interest, surprised that someone of such age could still possess so much strength. Everyone else looked in slack-jawed awe at the diminutive shinobi elder.

The Kazekage was the first to recover, "Not at all, Third Lord. Just a reunion of old friends and family."

Silently, the Kazekage beckoned to Temari and Kankuro and exited the office lobby. Yashamaru watched him as he left. It looked as if he was trying to refrain from attacking the Kazekage's turned back. The Hokage looked between the stairwell and Yashamaru's hostile expression, frowning.

"I have a meeting with the village council in half an hour," the Hokage said, "But I think that I should have a word with the two of you first."

Yashamaru and Gaara followed the Hokage into his office and took seats before his desk. The old man sighed heavily, then lit his pipe.

"Hokage-sama," Gaara asked, "Did you know that my father and siblings were coming?"

"I did," the Hokage replied, "He occasionally visits Konoha to observe the chunin exams. However, he was not scheduled to arrive for at least another month. His arrival here today was as big of a shock to me as it is to you."

"And you're not concerned?" Yashamaru asked, "You know the circumstances under which we left Suna. Don't you think it's possible that he's here early to try and do something to us?"

"I don't think so, although Gaara probably does have something to do with his early arrival. The reason for this is that, shortly after you came to Konoha, we received a message requesting both of you be returned, under the pretense of being put on trial for the ninja you killed while escaping. I decided to decline."

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Gaara asked, "He would have had reason to attack Konoha because of that!"

"Indeed, it did almost come to that. Eventually, though, the Kazekage decided not to press the issue and withdrew his request. He has had ample time and opportunity to initiate a military campaign against us, and has not. As for why I did not tell you before, I thought that you had been through enough in recent years. I did not want you to fear for your lives while you still resided in Konoha."

"There is a difference between not worrying us and allowing us to put up our guards." Yashamaru pointed out.

"Perhaps, but as long as you stayed within Konoha's walls, you were safe; and you had no reason to leave. I do not regret the decision. What will you do now? I will understand if you wish to leave Konoha for as long as the Kazekage is here. We have a number of safe houses around the world where you could stay until he departs."

"Thank you," Gaara said, pulling his exam registration form out of his pocket, "But I cannot leave. I am taking part in the chunin exams, and if I understand correctly he will be here for the duration, yes?"

"Yes. But this will not be the last chunin exam. They are biannual, you would have multiple opportunities to advance your rank."

"If we suddenly disappeared when he came to observe the chunin exams, I have no doubt that he would continue to come and observe them all. It's best just to face him down now, and get it over with."

The Hokage chuckled, "So certain you can pass on your first try, are you? Very well. I must go now to my meeting with the council. By the way, you needn't bother filling out that form. I will inform the proctor that you have accepted."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"You are welcome. And good luck with the exam!"

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The next chapter will be the start of the chunin exams. I'll try to push through to the Forest of Death. Please review.

P.S.: The Kazekage is NOT Orochimaru in disguise. It is really him! (thanks Fehize)


	11. Examination Day

Not much to say for this one. I spent the entire afternoon finishing the second half of it. I'd like to ask you to go to my homepage and cast a vote in my new poll. Also, since I estimate that this story is about half over at this point, I'd like to ask a favor of anyone who is going to send me a review. After this fanfic is done, I intend to write another one for Naruto. What I like about this series is that it has so many rich characters who are never fully explored, which leaves a great deal of room for people like us. So, I am open for ideas about who the main character of my next story will be. I already have a few ideas, but I'm open to directions. Characters who do not get a lot of time in the series would be preferable. I am very interested to hear what you would like to see. And, without further ado...

I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

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**Chapter Eleven: Examination Day**

Gaara walked alongside the rest of his cell as they headed towards the Ninja Academy. All of them had filled out their forms, and all of them were prepared to take the chunin exams. Except, Gaara noted, for Sakura. She generated such strong feelings of dread and trepidation that Gaara could barely stand to walk next to her. Naruto, oblivious as ever, walked alongside Gaara while spouting an unending stream of pep talk. Judging by the slight nerves Gaara could feel coming from him, the babbling was more for Naruto's own sake than that of his teammates. It wasn't the first time Naruto had tried to drown out his own discomfort with a flood of words. Sasuke, silent and grim as always, brought up the rear.

"-so I figure, we'll just tackle this exam like we would any other mission." Naruto said cheerfully.

"How's that?" Gaara asked, deadpan, "Charge in without planning, make it up as we go along, and pray we're all still standing once we come out the other end?"

Naruto frowned thoughtfully, "Well…I was going to say, '_believe in ourselves and hope for the best_', but I suppose that works too."

Sasuke let out a rare chuckle at that. Gaara figured that with an omen like that, they would not only pass the exam, but be promoted directly to jonin while simultaneously curing world hunger and achieving complete oneness with the universe. He decided not to voice this opinion, lest he ruin Sasuke's good mood.

Team Seven entered the Academy and began climbing stairs to reach room 301. However, they found their way blocked by a large crowd just before the door. Over the combined mutterings of them all, Gaara could hear someone near the door saying that he was being merciful. That he had already failed the exam three times in a row, and that kids like them were not ready for the exam. Gaara sighed and began to work his way through the crowd, his teammates following the path he created. Once he reached the small gap near the door, he snorted. The ninja addressing the crowd was hardly in a position to call the rest of them kids, he was barely a year older than the others. Yet he was lecturing them all like he was Iruka's age. Two shinobi, a girl with her hair pulled up into two buns and a boy in a green jumpsuit, were on the ground before the shinobi blocking the door. They had apparently tried to force their way through and been repelled.

"We are just thinning the ranks of those who will fail the exam anyway," The ninja was saying, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Sasuke replied, "But you will let me pass. And release this ridiculous genjutsu while you're at it."

"What is that guy talking about?" someone in the crowd asked.

Gaara turned back toward the gathering and asked, "Let me ask you something, can you count?"

There were many outraged mutterings, and one of them cried, "Of course we can!"

"Tell me, what room are you trying to get into?"

"301!"

"And what floor is that on?"

"The third, you moron!"

"Now, and this is the big one, what floor is this?"

"The second…oh."

"Bravo." Gaara said. He looked at Sakura and asked, "You noticed first, right Sakura? You have the greatest talent for genjutsu out of all of us, as well as being the best analyst."

Her cheeks reddened, "Yes, I noticed it pretty much immediately."

He clapped her on the shoulder, "You see? We'll just keep playing off of each other's strengths, countering each other's weaknesses, and we'll pass this thing in no time."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto barked.

"Not bad," The door-blocker said with a grin, "But all you did was see through it!"

The ninja rushed forward. He braced his hands on the ground and swung his foot in a high arc towards Sasuke. The Uchiha grinned in anticipation, and lashed out with his own foot in a counter. Just before the blows could connect, the boy in the green jumpsuit who had been on the ground interposed himself in between the two ninja, so quickly that Gaara had not seen him move, and blocked both strikes with his bare hands. Sasuke and the door-blocker backed away from the third shinobi, looking bemused that their fight had been interrupted.

Another ninja separated himself from the crowd, which was thinning now that the genjutsu had been dispelled, and leveled a cold stare at the boy in the green jumpsuit. Gaara could feel tremendous strength radiating from him, despite his attempts to conceal his power. He had black hair that went halfway down his back and wore bandages around his right arm and leg. What was most striking about him, though, were his eyes. They had no pupils, and they were a pearlescent shade of violet. Considering what Gaara knew about normal eye function, he how the other boy could see at all.

"What happened to the plan?" White-eyes asked the green shinobi, "It was your idea not to draw attention to ourselves."

"Well…" the green one replied. He trailed off and blushed, looking over his shoulder at Sakura. Without saying another word, he strode forward. He completely ignored both Naruto and Gaara, and drew to a halt directly in front of Sakura. He smiled, in what was probably supposed to be a charming manner, but came off as odiously over the top.

"Hi," he said jauntily, "My name is Rock Lee. Yours is Sakura, right? Go out with me! I'll protect you with my life!"

Gaara stared in disbelief for a moment, then raised his eyes to the ceiling. _God_, Gaara thought to himself, _I know I have committed a great many sins in my life, but I have just one question…_

_Why me?_

"No way," Sakura replied, "You freak me out."

Lee, irrevocably known as green jumpsuit boy in Gaara's head now, slumped in disappointment. Naruto chuckled at the other boys discomfort, no doubt glad that his crush had turned down someone other than himself for a change. The white-eyed boy was staring at Sasuke intently, sizing him up.

"Hey, you," He asked, "What's your name?"

"Not Sasuke again!" Naruto cried in dismay, ignored by everyone.

_Still waiting, God…_

"When you ask for someone's name," Sasuke said, "It's polite to offer yours first."

"You're a rookie, right?" White-eyes asked, ignoring Sasuke's comment, "How old are you?"

"I don't have to answer you."

The two spun on their heels and walked in opposite directions. Sakura grabbed Naruto and Sasuke and began to pull them along, complaining that they would be late if they didn't hurry. Gaara trailed along behind them. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, a blur of green race past him. Sure enough, Rock Lee had rushed in front of them and blocked their path.

_Hello? Anybody up there?_

"Hey, you with the dark eyes," Lee said, "You wanna fight?"

Sasuke frowned, "Right now?"

"Yes. I want to fight you, and test my techniques against the last of the Uchiha. Plus…well…"

He broke off and stared at Sakura. It was quite disconcerting, really. Slowly, deliberately, Lee winked at her. Sakura recoiled as though he had done something vile, which Gaara privately thought was accurate. Not taking the hint, Lee held a palm up to his lips, and blew Sakura a kiss. The girl screeched and bent over backwards, as if the invisible sentiment were a kunai flying toward her head.

_I guess not…_

"You're challenging me, even though you know about the Uchiha?" Sasuke asked, stepping forward, "Frankly, you're a fool. You are going to learn what that name means, bushy-brows."

"Wait," Naruto said, "Let me take care of bushy-brows. It'll just take five minutes!"

"The one I wish to fight is not you," Lee said patiently.

Naruto charged, snarling about how it was "always Sasuke." Gaara almost reached out to drag him back, but at the last second decided against it. _After all, it's the burnt child that fears fire_, Gaara thought. Naruto swung a fierce blow at Lee's face. The taller boy diverted the punch with one hand, knocking the blonde off balance so that he fell to the floor. Using the momentum from his fall, Naruto pushed up with his hands and kicked at Lee. The other boy spun, knocking once more destabilizing Naruto, and shoved the blonde into a wall several feet away. Naruto landed in a heap, although Gaara had managed to cushion his landing with some of his sand.

"You guys don't have the strength to beat me," Lee stated calmly, "Because right now, I'm the strongest genin in Konoha!"

"Sounds like fun," Sasuke said, "I accept!"

Sasuke ran at Lee, who took a neutral fighting stance and watched the Uchiha come. Then, the green clothed shinobi jumped into the air and launched a whirling kick at Sasuke. He ducked, the strike ruffling the top of his hair. Using the momentum from his finished spin, Lee followed through with another strike. Sasuke, too unprepared to dodge, brought up an arm to block. The blow seemed, somehow, to bypass the Uchiha's guard and knocked him backwards anyway. Sasuke landed hard on his side, but stayed down only for a moment and levered himself to his feet.

Abruptly, Sasuke closed and then reopened his eyes in what Gaara though was a wink, until he saw that they had become Sharingan. He grinned in feral appreciation. Those eyes could penetrate any technique, even if they could not copy all of them. Sasuke charged again, Sharingan eyes wide, prepared to break whatever illusion had been cast.

Then Lee snap kicked him in the chin, spraying blood out of the Uchiha's mouth.

Gaara blinked in surprise. He had not seen that coming. He could hear Naruto giggling quietly from his spot on the floor. Gaara sent him a quick reproving glance, and then looked back at the fight. As far as Gaara knew, no genin level jutsu should be able to fool even a partially evolved Sharingan. Which meant…

"Yes," Lee said, as if reading everyone's mind, "My moves are neither ninjutsu or genjutsu, but simple taijutsu. It is said that the Sharingan is able to reveal all types of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. While it might give you an advantage with the first two, where chakra has to be molded and signs have to be formed, it is somewhat different with taijutsu."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke demanded, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Basically, even though your eyes can see me, your body isn't fast enough to keep up with me. No matter how good your eyes are, if your body can't keep up, its useless. Amongst strong people, there exist two types: geniuses and hardworking people. If your Sharingan is a genius type from the Uchiha clan, then I am simply a hardworking type who has mastered nothing except taijutsu. So, you could say that I am the worst possible match to your Sharingan. And now, with my next technique, I will show you that hard work can surpass genius!"

With a flick of the wrist, Lee loosened the bandages around his arms. He sprinted at Sasuke, the loose cloth rippling behind him like streamers. The green clad ninja was impossibly fast, far too fast for Sasuke to keep up with even with the Sharingan. Just before Lee could reach Sasuke, he jerked to a halt. One of his bandages had been nailed into the ground by a kunai. Gaara did a double-take. There was a huge turtle standing on the opposite side of the fight from Team Seven. Curiously, it seemed to be glaring at Lee, who had knelt before it with an ashamed look on his face.

"That's enough, Lee," the turtle said sternly, "You know that technique is forbidden."

Gaara sat down on the ground. _Turtles are talking now_, he thought to himself, _I give up_.

"You fool!" the turtle shouted. Gaara felt close to tears. "You know that it is imperative for a shinobi to keep his techniques secret! Are you prepared to pay?"

"Yes," Lee replied sullenly.

"Then here is Guy sensei!"

In a burst of smoke, a ninja appeared on the turtle's back. Gaara knew instantly where Lee got his fashion sense. The two of them had the same haircut, the same jumpsuit, although Guy also wore a jonin vest, and they both had thick eyebrows, Guy's even more bushy than Lee's. The jonin struck a pose and began to jabber about something called "the springtime of youth!"

_I can't take much more of this_, Gaara thought.

"Lee?" the elder ninja asked.

"Yes?" his pupil responded.

"YOU FOOL!" Guy bellowed, striking Lee hard in the face. The genin was sent flying, a stream of blood expelling from his mouth. For a moment, Gaara thought that Lee had been knocked unconscious. Then the youth propped himself up on his elbow.

"Sensei," he said, "I…I…"

He burst into tears and wrapped his teacher in hug. To everyone's shock and discomfort, Guy reciprocated. Tears were falling thick from his eyes, and he was hugging Lee back, telling him that it was okay. "It's alright, Lee. Mistakes and youth go together. But you did start a fight and almost break my most important rule. I will give you your punishment after the chunin exam."

"Yes, sir!"

Guy looked over at Team Seven and asked, "Hey, you guys! How is Kakashi doing?"

"You know Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked dubiously.

"Know him! People refer to us as eternal rivals! I have fifty wins and forty-nine losses. I'm stronger than Kakashi. I'm sorry about Lee, by the way. I promise it won't happen again."

"I'm sorry about him too," Gaara said, his face in his hands.

Guy chuckled, looking at Gaara seated on the ground with slight curiousness, and then bade his student good luck and disappeared. Lee collected his bandages and began rewrapping his hands, but not before Gaara got a look at his knuckles. They were battered and scarred, as if all of Konoha had taken turns stomping on his hands. He glanced to his left, and met Naruto's gaze. He had noticed as well.

"Sasuke, I'll say one more thing," Lee said, "I lied before. I'm not the strongest genin in Konoha. The strongest Konoha genin is on my team, and I entered this competition to beat him. You are also one of my targets, so be prepared!"

He then bounded away from them to the examination room. Naruto walked over to Gaara and hauled him to his feet, smirking at him. Gaara retaliated by tripping him up on the stairs as they continued toward the classroom with his sand. At long last, they reached the room. They turned in their registration with an attendant seated outside of the room, and then opened the door.

"Well, shit," Naruto muttered.

Just like the other academy classrooms, there were many long rows of desks taking up most of the space. Every last one had a ninja seated in it. They were of all ages and sizes. They ranged in looks from childlike to bizarre to downright scary. Headbands of a wide variety of different countries were on display on arms, waists, and foreheads. Near the back of the room, Gaara could see Temari and Kankuro sitting next to each other, ignoring everyone around them. They did not look up when the door opened. Many ninja were staring at the newly arrived genin in open shock. Gaara offered them a feral grin in return, being sure to meet every set of eyes until they looked elsewhere. It did not surprise him that they were turning heads. Neither he nor Naruto were attempting to dampen their chakra, and between them they had enough chakra for any twenty ninja in the room.

Abruptly, Sasuke was tackled from behind by a blonde ninja in a purple outfit. He staggered, but managed to maintain his balance after a few moments. Gaara thought for a moment that he was genuinely under attack, then the kunoichi screamed "Saaaaasukeeeeeee!", which he took to mean that she was another stalker and not an assassin.

"Get away from Sasuke, Ino-pig!" Sakura growled at the blonde.

"Oh, well if it isn't Sakura, the billboard brow!" Ino replied coolly.

The two girls descended into a screeching match as Ino's teammates approached. The first was one Gaara actually knew, Shikamaru Nara. Throughout their years at the academy, Shikamaru had spent most of his time sleeping through classes and complaining about how lessons interfered with his free time. Naruto thought he was simply a lazy moron. Gaara, who had spent most of his time bored out of his skull by the repetitive lessons, could recognize Shikamaru as someone with a prodigious intellect who was simply not challenged enough. The second was someone Gaara knew only a little about, Choji Akimichi. The boy was Shikamaru's best friend, which Gaara supposed meant he could not be all that bad. He was overweight, not surprising given that every time Gaara saw him he was eating chips or candy. He had seen Choji's father once, and immediately started wondering if perhaps there was some genetic tendency for Akimichi clansmen to become obese. Choji was one of the rare few who actually left Naruto alone of his own will, which heightened him in Gaara's estimation, if nothing else.

"Hey, we found you!" Another familiar voice said.

Gaara saw that yet another cell of genin from the academy had shown up. The first, a boy with red markings on his cheeks and a dog on his head, was Kiba Inuzuka. In the academy, he had been almost as loud and obnoxious as Naruto, except that he lacked the studying woes that had so plagued Gaara's friend. Another one was a girl who, shockingly, had eyes as white as the genin who had talked to Sasuke a minute ago. Gaara could not remember what her name was, but she had never once spoken aloud in class of her own volition. The last one was Shino Aburame, a boy who spoke even less than Gaara and kept his eyes covered with sunglasses.

"You too?" Shikamaru asked in his usual bored tone, "That means that all nine of the rookie genin from Konoha are in this exam."

"I wonder how far we'll get, eh Sasuke?" Kiba said.

"You seem awfully confident Kiba," the Uchiha replied with a grin.

Kiba laughed, "We've trained a lot since the academy! We won't loose to the likes of you!"

Gaara noticed _another_Konoha genin walking towards them. If this kept up, they would haveto get commemorative jackets. The new addition, a boy several years older than the others, had silver hair and glasses, and he wore a gentle smile on his face. When he came within an arm's length, every alarm bell in Gaara's head went off at once. His chakra signature had a careful blandness about it, which indicated to Gaara that the silver-haired genin was working hard to hide his emotions. _Not exactly comforting when he's trying to make friends_, Gaara thought.

"Hey, you guys shouldn't talk so loud." Silver-hair said, "You're all rookies, right? It shows."

"Who do you think you are?" Sakura shot back.

"I'm Kabuto. But more importantly, look behind you."

All of the rookies turned to see three ninja with matching headbands glowering at them. The whole lot of them were radiating slight amounts of killer intent.

"Those are genin from Kirigakure," Kabuto informed them, "They have short tempers. You might want to quiet down before you cause a scene."

"How's this for a scene?" Gaaraasked. Briefly, he closed his eyes and thought back to the Land of Waves. He recalled the massive killer intent Zabuza had expelled, the terror it had caused his teammates, and opened his eyes. He gathered all of the hostility he could muster, and sent it at the three Mist-ninon a wave of chakra. Every single head in the room turned toward Gaara at the outpouring of killer intent. All of the rookies and Kabuto took an involuntary step back, except for Naruto. The three Mist-nin, hit full force by it instead of getting the castoff, fainted dead away. Gaara met the gazes of the rest of the geninin the room and gave them a _come and get it_grin. They proceeded to look at their desks, their shoes, the ceiling, and anything else they could find that did not have red hair. Gaara looked back to Kabuto, cocking an eyebrow in question. The older boy hissed in vexation.

"I didn't think you could have done anything to make the situation worse, but you did," Kabuto said pityingly, "But what can I expect? You're just a bunch of rookies. Here, I'll give you a hand with my ninja info cards."

Kabuto fished around in his pockets for a moment, then withdrew a thick deck of cards. They were all completely blank.

"They're basically cards with information burned into them with chakra. This is the fourth year I've taken the exam, so I have a _lot_ of information, I have over two-hundred cards."

"Two-hundred nothing," Choji said, "they don't have anything written on them."

"They only show up when I put my chakra into them."

"Shouldn't you be saving that chakra for something like combat, maybe?" Gaara asked innocently.

Kabuto simply stared at him, but before he could reply Sasuke asked, "Do you have information on individuals?"

"Somebody catch your eye?"

"Rock Lee of Konoha."

"Sure, one minute" Kabuto began to shuffle through his cards. After a moment, he withdrew a single blank card and activated it with a burst of chakra. A small picture of Rock Lee appeared in the corner, with the rest of the card being taken up by his mission history and a graph showing his combat ability. "Rock Lee. He's one year older that you guys, but this is also his first exam. Twenty completed D-ranked missions and twelve completed C-ranked missions. In the last year, he has gained recognition for his advanced taijutsu skills-"

"No shit." Naruto interrupted.

"-and his teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten." Kabuto finished, "Good luck, and remember to keep your guard up at all times."

The cluster of genin dispersed, finding empty seats in the vast throng of shinobi. Team Seven found a group of desks near the back of the room, where they spent the next several minutes studying their opposition. Nobody looked at them. Gaara's little display had alerted everyone in the room of how dangerous his cell would be. He could see that Naruto and Sakura were casting nervous looks at some of the more fearsome looking genin. Gaara, with his higher-than-average chakra sense, determined that the more the genin focused on their appearance, the more weak they really were. He made sure to tell this to his teammates when he saw them start to sweat, though it appeared to help only a little.

In a gargantuan blast of smoke, a huge number of Konoha shinobi appeared at the front of the room. The one at the head of the group wore a black skull cap and gloves, and two long scars traced from the middle of his face to his chin. His eyes were cold and cruel. They took a quick sweep of the room before narrowing. Some of the genin, trying to look cool and untroubled, had been sitting or lying on top of the desks. All of them sprang off and hastily scrambled into seats at his look.

The scarred ninja took a long look around the room, taking time to allow his gaze to bore into each and every pair of eyes in the room. By sheer happenstance, Gaara was in the last seat of the last row, and so it was that Gaara was the last genin to be looked at before the examiner muttered, "Fuck."

_I seem to be having that effect on people lately_, Gaara thought.

"You know, and I say this in all honesty, you lousy bunch of snot-nosed babies have got to be the sorriest excuses for ninja I have ever seen in my career. To think that the wise and noble leaders of your great nations even thought you deserved those headbands you so casually wear. I have never seen such a collection of-"

What followed was the longest litany of insults and obscenities that Gaara had ever heard directed at one target. The tall ninja did not repeat himself, nor did he pause. Far from being insulted, Gaarawas impressed. He could tell by the tone of the man's voice that he had not rehearsed, he was using several of the seated ninja as references. Seconds ticked by, and still the tall ninja had not even slowed down. According to the clock, he had now been going at it for over two minutes and he was nowhere near done. Three and a half minutes in, he seamlessly switched languages, causing a group of foreign ninja a few seats over to stiffen in their seats. Five minutes and two more languages later, the ninja drew to a close. Every genin in the room stared in opened mouth horror at the scarred shinobi. Gaara and Naruto had their fists stuffed in their mouths to contain their laughter.

"I am Ibiki Morino," the lead shinobi said, "And I will be the proctor of the first test of this chunin exam. First, the ground rules: there will be no fighting without the _express_ permission of an examiner. Even when fighting is allowed, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Any of you maggots who disobey will fail. Is that clear?"

Utter silence greeted Ibiki's question.

"Good. Now we will begin the first test of the exam. Before we begin, we will be assigning you your new seats. Then we will pass out your tests."

Naruto groaned loudly. Gaara winced in appreciation, the blonde had never been any good at written tests. There were many muttered curses as the genin shuffled themselves around according to the instructions given to them by the team of shinobi proctors. In the end, Gaara wound up being seated a few rows behind Naruto, and he could just barely see Sakura out of the corner of his eye. The proctors began to pass out the test forms, laying them facedown on the desks in front of the genin and telling them not to turn them over. When every shinobi had a test, Ibiki began to speak.

"I'm going to explain how this test is going to work. The test is ten questions long, and scores are compiled by a point deduction system. What I mean is that at the start, each one of you will have ten points, and for every question you have that is wrong you lose one point. Theses other proctors here will be seated along the sides of the room, making sure that you don't cheat. Every time you are caught cheating, two points will be deducted from your score. And also, the scores of all of your teammates will be added up at the end of the exam. If any of your teammates doesn't manage to get a single point, your entire cell will fail! Now begin, the examination period lasts one hour."

There was a shuffling sound as everyone flipped over their papers and started their tests. Gaara read all ten questions, and decided that he might be able to answer three of them. By the number ten, there were only the words: _The last question will be given once forty-five minutes have passed._Gaara started on the questions he though he could answer, and twenty minutes later three answers out of ten gleamed proudly on Gaara's test. _At least now our team isn't disqualified_, Gaara thought, then he caught sight of Naruto clutching his head, _not on my account anyway_.

Gaara knew quite well that Naruto would not be able to answer even one question on the test. Any method Gaara could think of to pass Naruto answers would surely be noticed by the proctors. It might be worth Gaara losing two of his points to make sure that Naruto did not get the whole team disqualified, but Gaara knew there had to be a better way than that. It was then that he realized that he was thinking like an academy student and not like a ninja, and it was then that a solution occurred to him. Slowly, Gaara began to siphon sand off of the outside of his gourd. He did not want to draw attention by uncorking it. He took it from the top and sent it down the neck of his shirt, through the leg of his pants, and pooled it by his right foot. Once there, Gaara sent it across the floor towards Naruto's desk, being sure to keep the stream spread thinly enough that it was barely visible. When it reached Naruto's desk, Gaara levitated the sand so that it was on the desktop near Naruto's chest. He saw his friend stiffen when he noticed the sand.

Slowly, painstakingly, Gaara used his chakra to mold the sand into a number one. After pausing for a few seconds to make sure Naruto had seen it, he began to mold the sand into letters. In this way, over the next twenty minutes, Gaara was able to send Naruto the answer to every one of the three questions that he had been able to figure out. By the end, Gaarawas sweating and out of breath. It took a tremendous amount of mental strain to form the sand in such exact shapes. He took the final five minutes before the tenth question to recuperate.

"Now we will begin the tenth question," Ibiki said, "But before we do, I have a few more rules to add. First, if anyone chooses not to answer the question, that person's score will be reduced to zero. They, and their entire team, will fail the examination."

"What!" someone shouted.

"Second," Ibiki continued, ignoring the outraged cry, "If you choose to answer the question, and answer incorrectly, you will never be allowed to take the chunin exam ever again!"

"That's crap!" Kiba shouted, almost shaking his dog off of his head, "There are people here who have taken the exam before!"

"You got unlucky. This year it's my rules. However, I am offering you a way out. Those of you who are not confident that you can answer the question can withdraw and try again in six months. Anyone who doesn't want the take the last part of the test, raise your hand and leave once your number is confirmed."

Almost immediately, more than half of the genin either raised their hands or stood up. The proctors seated along the wall began calling out numbers, and they ninja began to file out of the classroom. Gaara was staring hard at Naruto's back. He was shaking. Gaara knew that he could not answer whatever question Ibiki had in store. He turned his head and looked at Sakura. Their eyes met, and each knew what the other was thinking: _Not this year_.

Gaara knew Naruto better than he knew his own brother, and he knew that Naruto would not quit even if it was in his best interest. He hated being the weakest link, he hated holding people back. He would not raise his hand and cut his teammates' ambitions short, even if it would cost him his. It was his damned nobility, his willingness to sacrifice himself for others, that was both his greatest weakness and his greatest strength. Gaara wished that Naruto would grow a sense of self-preservation to balance out his selflessness. It would lower his blood pressure a great deal.

Then, Naruto started to raise his hand. He was still shaking slightly, but his gaze was level towards the front of the room. Gaara let out a small sigh of relief, even though he was slightly disappointed. They could take the exams again in a few months, and move forward just a little bit farther.

Naruto's hand came down on the table with such force that Gaara felt the impact in the soles of his feet.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto bellowed, "I won't run away! I'll take it, even if I have to stay a genin forever! I'll become Hokage no matter what! So go ahead and ask your damn question, I'm not afraid!"

"You do realize your life is on the line here, so I'll tell you again. This is your last chance to quit."

"I never go back on my word. _That's my shinobi way!_"

A jolt went through Gaara's guts when Naruto spoke. He could not say why, but he felt that something profound had just occurred. He wondered if this was what people who witnessed history being made felt like. It was absurd, of course. Naruto was just mouthing off like he always did. But this felt different. Gaara looked around at the other genin. Unsurprisingly, everyone was looking at Naruto. What was surprising was that, while everyone had looked stressed out and fearful before, they now looked calm, confident, and ready to continue forward. Naruto had reinforced everyone's flagging confidence. Sakura's cheeks were red, and she was staring at Naruto's back with her mouth slightly open.

"So, everyone still here wants to take a shot at the last question?" Ibiki asked brusquely.

Everyone nodded, confident smiles on their faces.

"Very well then. Congratulations on passing the first part of the chunin exams!"

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Please review!


	12. Sign of the Beast

I had a thought the other day.

I think that Naruto is meant to represent the stereotypical American. Blond hair, blue eyes, cocky, and loudmouthed. I also think that Sasuke is meant to represent the stereotypical Japanese person. Black hair, dark eyes, and a genius. And when the two fought at the Valley of the End, who was it that won?

Just a thought.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

P.S. Xioa Rose, I would never discontinue this story. I just take my time.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Sign of the Beast**

Gaara cast a glance around the clearing his team was at. After the written test, a female jonin had burst through the window and lead them to this forest, the "Forest of Death", no less. The trees in this forest were huge, big even by Konoha's gigantic standards. The jonin had been the closest thing to a sociopath Gaara had seen since he had come to Konoha. Naruto had been his usual boastful, loud self, and the jonin had thrown a kunai at him, scoring his cheek. Then she had _licked_ the blood off the side of his face. Gaara's right eye twitched just as a scream echoed in the distance. _Couldn't agree more, my friend_, Gaara thought.

"Did you guys hear somebody scream?" Sakura asked. She and Naruto were constantly looking around the clearing as if watching for ambushers. "This place is really creeping me out!"

"It's fine Sakura." Naruto reassured. Then, half a beat later, "I gotta take a leak."

He turned, walked three steps to a bush, and began to undo his pants. Gaara walked up right behind him and kicked him clean over the top of the bush, bellowing, "Go somewhere we don't have to watch!"

Naruto stomped away, cursing softly to himself. He walked out of the clearing and kept on going. Gaara could hear twigs snapping and leaves rustling as he built distance between himself and the rest of the cell. As a precaution, Gaara stretched out his awareness, a sort of chakra sonar ping. He detected nothing. Sure enough, half a minute later Naruto came back into the clearing with his signature grin plastered on his face. Gaara looked over at Sasuke, who gave Naruto a once-over, and nodded back.

"Whew!" Naruto said with a grin, "Feeling good now!"

Sakura started to snarl a rebuke at him, but Sasuke cut her off by punching Naruto hard in the face. The blonde flew backward and crashed into a tree. He hauled himself back to his feet, wiping blood off the corner of his mouth. He eyed Sasuke with a mixture of anger and wariness, "What the hell was that for?"

"What have you done with Naruto?" Sasuke demanded.

"I'm right in front of you…bleeding!"

"Your shuriken are on your left leg," Gaara said, his anger mounting, "Naruto is right handed. And you forgot about the cut he has on his cheek."

Naruto smirked evilly, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. When it cleared, a ninja with a Kirigakure headband, goggles, and some sort of breathing apparatus over his mouth stood in his place. He laughed, the sound distorted by the device over his mouth, "Now that you've made me come clean, how about you do too? Which one of you has the scroll?"

He charged them without waiting for an answer. Sasuke wove hand seals before expelling a flurry of fist-sized fireballs at the enemy ninja. He dodged them all before springing up into the trees. He flung a single kunai at Gaara, who caught it easily in his sand. It was only then that he saw the explosive tab fluttering on the end of a string attached to the knife. He barely had time to wrap Sakura in a bear hug, putting her close enough to him to be protected by the sand barrier, before the tag detonated in a massive explosion. Gaara and Sakura were cast into darkness as the sand barrier formed a half sphere around them, protecting them from the blast. Meanwhile, Sasuke had managed to catch up to the ninja from Kirigakure and driven a kunai into his shoulder. The startled genin leapt back from the Uchiha, and right into the grip of Gaara's waiting sand. Gaara swung his hand around and slammed the enemy ninja into a tree.

"Where is Naruto?" Gaara snarled.

"Who?" The ninja sneered.

"Wrong answer." Gaara snapped. He curled his fingers and twisted his wrist. There were two wet popping sounds as the Kirigakure ninja's shoulders were wrenched out of their sockets. The genin howled in agony, struggling against the sand holding him in place. Gaara waited for him to quiet marginally before asking, "Now, where is Naruto?"

"Ungh," the real Naruto mumbled, walking into the clearing rubbing the back of his head, "What happened?"

"Well this is awkward." Gaara said, looking between Naruto and the injured enemy ninja. He shrugged and flicked his wrist, "Goodbye."

Gaara's sand flung the genin out of the clearing. He arced through the air, yelling as the movement put strain on his injuries. His voice grew fainter for several seconds before cutting off suddenly, accompanied by the sound of a muffled thump and rustling leaves. Everyone stared in the direction the shinobi had been thrown for a moment, then Sakura and Sasuke leveled annoyed stares at Naruto.

"We should have some kind of password, so that something like this can't happen again." Gaara suggested.

"I've got one." Sasuke said, "It's a poem called 'Ninki'."

"I hate poems." Naruto grumbled.

"An even better reason to use it. Anyway, here it is. We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate. Got it?"

"How the hell am I supposed to remember that?"

"You dunce," Sakura said, "I already have it memorized."

"Can't we have it be something shorter, like 'swordfish', maybe?"

"No."

A breeze rustled through the trees. It did not die away, but continued to build until it started to ruffle Gaara's hair and clothing. He looked toward the source of the wind and saw a solid wall of debris and dust billowing toward them with the speed of a freight train. Gaara could also feel traces of chakra in the gigantic mass of moving air, which meant they were under attack.

"Look out!" Gaara bellowed, "Get behind me!"

His teammates looked at the tide of wind with obvious apprehension, but thankfully followed Gaara's direction and crowded behind him. He put both hands out in front of him. His gourd emptied itself as it formed into a solid wall over ten feet high in front of them. Gaara made a snap decision and wrapped it around them in a sphere, so that they were no longer exposed at all. The wind began to pummel the sand shield, a dull roar building as the wind increased in speed and intensity.

"Why the hell didn't you do this in the Land of Waves, against that Haku guy?" Sasuke shouted above the din.

"I'd never been injured before, I wasn't thinking straight!" Gaara shouted back. The wind's noise increased to such a monstrous level that Gaara could no longer hear his teammate's voice. The ground beneath their feet disintegrated. Wind instantly flowed up into the sand shield, turning it into a sand kite. Team Seven was lifted up into the air, spinning wildly and ricocheting off trees like an oversized pinball. Sasuke was thrown towards Gaara, and the sand automatically moved to block. The sphere was blown to dust as the wind tore into the newly created weak point. All of the members of Team Seven were cast into the trees. Gaara managed to hook a tree limb with the back of his knee. He spun a full three-hundred and sixty degrees around the branch before allowing himself to fly free. He executed a midair back flip and landed on another branch a few meters away.

Sasuke was crouched on another tree limb a little to the right of Gaara. Sakura was buried upside down in a snarl of twigs. Her feet kicked around for a moment before she managed to extricate herself, leaves and sticks stuck in her hair. Gaara looked about urgently for Naruto, but he was nowhere to be seen. He extended his senses, and found that the blonde was somewhere on the forest floor. Abruptly, Gaara heard sibilant laugher from slightly below them. He looked down and thought that perhaps he had found their attacker.

The ninja was tall, with pale skin and long dark hair. He removed a wide-brimmed hat from his head, revealing a Land of Grass headband and a smirk. "Hello there," He called up to Gaara and his teammates, "I was wondering if I could bother you for a heaven scroll?"

"Sure," Sasuke replied, "We'll take it for your earth scroll. You give us yours first."

The ninja laughed again, somehow making it sound like a hiss, and leapt lightly to a branch on an even level with the one Gaara was on. He reached into a pouch on his back and withdrew his earth scroll. He opened his mouth, allowing his tongue to hang down until it almost reached his collarbone. Gaara and Sasuke traded an incredulous glance, and then watched as the Grass ninja wrapped his tongue around the scroll and stuffed it down his throat.

"Now," He said, oblivious to the disgusted looks he was receiving from Team Seven, "We'll see who will be taking scrolls from whom. We'll fight to the death."

Kunai, dozens of them, enveloped Gaara like a swarm of locusts. His sand did not even have time to move as his entire body was covered in lacerations. He was shocked that so many weapons could be thrown by one individual. Finally, the storm abated, only for one final kunai to lodge itself into his forehead. Gaara felt it penetrate the skin on his forehead, blood spraying out to join the blood that had leaked out of his torn cheeks. He blinked and the vision was gone. His sand was up, forming a barrier against an attack that was not coming. Gaara realized belatedly that he had fallen victim to his first genjutsu. He looked at his teammates and saw that they had both collapsed. Sasuke pitched forward and vomited over the side of the branch. Gaara hoped vaguely that it did not land on Naruto, wherever the hell he was down there.

Gaara began to have serious worries. The enemy ninja was approaching, and Sasuke and Sakura were not showing any signs of recovery from the genjutsu. He stepped between his fallen teammates, lifted up one of their hands, and bit down hard on them. They yelped in pain, breaking out of their stupor just as Gaara had intended.

"If you'd care to join us," Gaara said, "The real fight is about to start."

"How right you are," the Grass-nin said. He bit his thumb, causing a spot of blood to appear, and dragged it down his forearm. He formed several hand seals and said, "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_"

A giant snake appeared in a giant cloud of smoke. Its jaws were big enough to swallow a cow whole, and it was at least thirty meters long. The giant reptile reared back and rocketed toward Team Seven like a charging bull. The young genin scattered just as the snake snapped the branch they had been standing on right off the tree. The thing wrapped around a tree and launched itself at Sasuke, who was still in midair. The Uchiha let out a cry of surprise and flung a handful of shuriken at the beast's gaping maw, killing it as the weapons penetrated soft tissue. Gaara watched in amazement as the Grass-nin leapt out of the dead snake's mouth. He had not seen him get inside of its mouth.

"Very good," the Grass-nin said, "Stay on your toes like good prey should. It makes things so much more enjoyable for the predator!"

The enemy ninja then leapt at Sasuke, a kunai in his right hand. Gaara wondered why he was focusing on Sasuke so much as he stretched out one of his hands. Sand encased the Grass-nin in an eye blink, much to the shinobi's surprise, and crushed him when Gaara closed his hand into a fist. Instead of the sound of snapping bone, though, Gaara heard only a sickly squelching sound. Frowning, he released the grip of his sand. A stream of mud leaked out, much of the muck remaining stuck to the sand.

"What an interesting jutsu." the Grass-nin whispered into Gaara's ear. He tried to drive an elbow into his attacker's midsection, but he was not fast enough. The enemy ninja put one hand on the back of Gaara's shirt and the other on his belt, planted his feet, and hurled the young shinobi off the side of the tree. No branches were close enough for Gaara to grab, and so he plummeted until his sand halted his fall just above the ground. As he clambered out, he saw Naruto. The blonde shinobi was covered in a film of blood and slime. There was another giant snake laying on the ground, its throat torn open as if it were a giant scaly balloon that had popped.

"Where the hell were you a few seconds ago?" Naruto asked, wiping viscous fluid off of his face.

"No time!" Gaara shouted, "We're under attack!"

Gaara jumped onto the nearest tree and began to run up its trunk, Naruto hot on his heels. As they reached a higher part of the canopy, they could see the battle continuing. Sasuke and Sakura were teaming up, using kunai and fireballs respectively, to keep the Grass-nin at a distance and too busy to summon another snake. The other ninja was incredibly fast, Gaara could not even see his legs as he ran. Naruto threw a handful of shuriken at the enemy, giving a huge lead to account for his speed. He dug in his heels and skidded to a halt, allowing Sasuke's last fireball to strike him right between the eyes. The branch the enemy shinobi was standing on detonated in a spray of burning splinters. He fell only a few feet before landing on another one without even a mark on his face.

Sasuke was dripping sweat and panting from all of the chakra he had expended. He was also shaking badly, although that had more to do with fear than exhaustion. He had not really recovered psychologically from the genjutsu, and he had been dodging the best attacks in his arsenal. A direct hit had not even burned his eyebrows. Still trembling, Sasuke withdrew the heaven scroll from his pocket. The Grass-nin was staring directly into Sasuke's eyes, and they were the coldest, most predatory eyes he had seen since Itachi's.

"If it's our scroll you want," Sasuke said, his voice almost sticking in his throat, "Then here, it's yours. Just take it and leave us be."

He flipped it through the air towards the Grass-nin, who smirked at Sasuke's submission. Naruto snarled a curse beside Gaara and jumped toward the scroll. He managed to catch it before it was halfway to the enemy ninja. Sasuke ran at him, bellowing at him to stop being an idiot, but was cut off when Naruto punched him hard in the face. The Uchiha flipped onto another branch, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sasuke demanded angrily.

"I can't remember that stupid poem, so I can't prove it," Naruto said heatedly, "But this Sasuke is clearly a fake."

"What?" Sasuke said bewilderedly, "Naruto, you idiot, I'm me!"

"That's bull! You're a coward, which Sasuke isn't, so you're not him! I'm not so sure we need to be afraid of this guy, and even if we did give him the scroll, there's no guarantee he'd spare us! So you're the idiot, idiot, and maybe even a chicken too!"

The Grass-nin let out another sibilant chuckle, "Oh, Naruto, this is rich! And, of course, you're right! Why should I simply accept the scroll from you when I can kill you and take it for myself?"

Naruto let out a roar of rage and charged at the enemy shinobi. Gaara sensed his chakra increase tremendously as he went, and moved to back up his friend. The Grass-nin summoned another snake, this one at least twice as big as the one from before. It lashed out at Naruto with its massive tail, catching him in midair and shooting him upward. He collided with a thick branch and began to fall. The giant snake moved at the Grass-nin's command, preparing to swallow the blonde as he fell. By now Naruto's chakra had become almost painful in its intensity, and when he reached the snake he punched it hard on the nose. The snake's head dipped from the blow, almost sending its master flying from atop its head.

Gaara formed a platform of sand beneath Naruto as he continued to fall. The blonde bounded off the platform and launched himself at the enemy shinobi. The Grass-nin smirked, formed several hand seals, and let out another gargantuan blast of wind that caught Naruto dead center in the chest. He was propelled backward to slam against a tree trunk. Then the snake began to move towards Sasuke again. Gaara lashed out with his sand, forming a several thick streams of it at neck, chest, and waist-height on the Grass-nin. The enemy ninja leapt off the snake's head before he could collide with the sand, and the snake continued to bear down on Sasuke. The Uchiha did not attempt to dodge, but simply stared at the oncoming monster. Gaara swore and tried to move some sand over to shove him out of the way, he had expected his teammate to at least be able to dodge on his own. He could see that it would not be fast enough, and let out a howl of frustration.

Naruto, coming seemingly out of thin air, planted his feet in front of Sasuke, spread out his arms, and allowed the snake to plough into his back. The blonde shinobi did not budge an inch. He took a hit from an animal several hundred times his own mass and halted it as if it were made of feathers. Gaara wiped sweat from his forehead, awed by his friend's strength.

"Oh ho!" The Grass-nin said, "So the brat of Nine Tails is still alive and kicking."

He dropped down in between Sasuke and Naruto. The shinobi's neck stretched sickeningly, bending backward to bite down on the point where Sasuke's shoulder met his neck. The kick that followed propelled the Uchiha off side of the branch as the Grass-nin opened his mouth. His tongue shot out and ensnared Naruto, lifting him clean off his feet. At this point, Gaara was already rushing towards the struggle and sending sand out ahead of him. Sakura caught Sasuke before he could fall to his death, so Gaara sent all of his sand at the enemy ninja. He was too late. The shinobi formed a hand seal and jabbed his hand into Naruto's stomach. Instantly, Naruto's chakra was cut in half. The blonde fell unconscious, and the Grass-nin threw him aside like a piece of trash. Gaara caught him in sand and sent more after the enemy, who fluidly eased himself out of the sand's path. The giant snake disappeared in a blast of smoke as the enemy shinobi leapt to another branch. Sasuke had started to scream; he was clutching the side of his neck and thrashing around while Sakura was trying to hold him down.

"Who the hell are you?" Gaara shouted at the retreating shinobi.

"I'm Orochimaru, the giant snake." The ninja replied, "Tell Sasuke for me, if he'd ever like a rematch, he has to complete this chunin exam as quickly as he can!"

Gaara expected him to disappear in a puff of smoke, but instead he sunk into the branch as if it were quicksand. After a moment, Gaara could no longer sense his chakra. Gaara remained tense and alert for several more moments, completely unconvinced that the battle was over. When no new presences arrived, he allowed himself a shaky exhalation of relief. He jumped over to the branch Sakura and Sasuke were perched on, despite the fact that Sasuke seemed to be attempting to throw himself off the side, and brought Naruto over as well. Gaara diverted some of his sand to Sasuke, holding down the Uchiha's limbs and head to stop him from hurting himself.

"Look on his neck." Sakura said worriedly.

Gaara craned his neck to look. At first he thought it was a bruise, but closer inspection revealed that it was some kind of mark. It looked somewhat like the tomoe on a Sharingan, three of them, arranged in a spiral with the rounded part on the inside. Two puncture wounds were on either side of the mark, though they were very small and not bleeding very much. Gaara withdrew a slim piece of paper with small symbols written on it from one of his equipment pouches. He pressed it against one of the rivulets of blood on Sasuke's neck and watched it. Three seconds later, the symbols glowed green. He and Sakura shared a relieved glance. The paper was a field poison detection note, designed by the medical corps to check the blood for any venoms or poisons. After the Land of Waves, Gaara had decided to stock up on his medical supplies.

"Either the pain he's in is the result of the jutsu that made that mark, or the poison is so subtle that the note can't detect it," Gaara said, "I'm going to say it's the former, because if he is poisoned and it's that good, there's nothing we can do for him anyway."

Gaara inspected Naruto next. He had no visible injuries on him, which did not surprise Gaara. Whenever Naruto used a large amount of chakra, his healing factor increased accordingly. He pulled up Naruto's orange jacked and shirt to check the area that Orochimaru had hit. That gave Gaara pause. Having grown up and trained with Naruto, Gaara had seen the seal on his belly that contained the demon within him. It looked different now; five new markings had been added. It appeared that Orochimaru had put a seal on Naruto that prevented him from using fox chakra. Gaara knew next to nothing about sealing jutsu, so there was nothing he could do for Naruto at this point. Making sure that Sakura could not see Naruto's stomach, Gaara slid his coat back into place.

"Looks like that Orochimaru guy put a seal on Naruto," Gaara said, "It's screwing with his chakra."

"Will he be able to use jutsu?" Sakura asked, "Or even fight?"

"No way to tell until he wakes up."

"_If_ he wakes up."

"He will," Gaara said sternly, "We need to get under cover and wait for these guys to regain consciousness."

Sasuke's screams had graduated to sporadic moans, and he had fallen unconscious. Gaara gathered his two downed teammates on small floating platforms of sand, wrapping slim tendrils around their bodies so that they would not fall off. He formed two more for himself and Sakura, hand he gently lowered them down from the trees to the ground. They began to walk, and after a few minutes found a tree with a patch of ground underneath it hollowed out. It was perfect for their purposes, almost too perfect. Perfect enough to be a trap, maybe. Gaara checked the inside of the cave as well as the surrounding area. There were no footprints in the area other than their own, and the hole appeared to be natural. Gaara could sense no other shinobi around. As far as assurances went, it would have to do.

Dusk was beginning to fall as they settled into their newfound base. Mercifully, Sasuke had stopped making noise altogether. He and Naruto slumbered quietly, never shifting except for the steady rise and fall of their chests. Sakura had removed their headbands and laid wet cloths on their foreheads.

"I'd prefer to take first watch, if you don't mind," Sakura said.

"I have insomnia, remember?" Gaara replied, "I won't be sleeping at all. I'll just keep watch all night."

"You should at least have the opportunity to rest."

"I'll meditate. My senses will be heightened that way, and it's the closest I ever get to sleep anyway."

"So you're going to sit on the ground with your eyes closed all night? I feel _so_ much better."

Nonetheless, Sakura unfurled her sleeping bag and was asleep within minutes. Gaara removed his gourd and propped himself against the wall of the cave, just to the side of the entrance so that he could not be seen. He suppressed his chakra so that he would not attract any unwanted attention and allowed his muscles to relax. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to be absorbed by the rhythm of his own breath and heartbeat. Gaara allowed himself to drown in the sounds of the forest. The chirping of crickets, the distant hoot of an owl, the rustling of leaves. All of it combined to become almost as soothing as the sound of water lapping on a shore. In a way it was even better than sleep, because it left him both totally relaxed and totally aware. He was one of the few people who could say that he did not waste one moment of his life, because he was conscious for every moment and able to enjoy the simple sensation of being alive.

Gaara had just begun to feel the slight warmth of dawn when he detected them. He had to admit that they were skilled. If he had not detected their chakra, none of his other senses would have warned him of their arrival. He shuffled across the ground and shook Sakura awake. He held a finger to his lips and nodded toward the cave entrance, then he pointed at their comatose teammates and gestured to the wall of their cave. Sakura nodded her understanding and began to drag Sasuke and Naruto against the wall, much as Gaara had been, so that stray attacks launched into the cave would not harm them. Not that Gaara intended to allow any attacks to enter the cave mouth.

Swinging his gourd onto his back, the redhead strode purposefully out of the cave just as the three shinobi entered the clearing. Their headbands identified them as genin from the newly formed Otogakure, which Gaara had heard very little about. What he had heard was that every shinobi that came out of the village was extraordinarily powerful. These three had certainly done their best to dress for the part. All three of them, two boys and one girl, had camouflage patterns on their leggings and collars. The girl also wore a vest over a camouflage shirt. The boy who appeared to be their leader had three quarters of his face covered in bandages, leaving only his left eye exposed. He wore a shirt with sleeves that fell past his hands and had what looked like a lion's mane on the back of it. The last boy had metal guards along the sides of his face, and Gaara saw small holes in the palms of his hands. All three looked aggressive, and they had decent levels of chakra for genin.

"It's very noble of you to try to take us on by yourself," The bandaged genin said, "But you needn't bother. We are here to fight Sasuke. Please wake him for us."

"Sheesh," Gaara said theatrically, "Everyone seems to be after him lately. First that Orochimaru from yesterday, and now you three."

The Sound genin looked stricken at the mention of Orochimaru, which made sense to Gaara. During the fight the previous day, Orochimaru had focused on Sasuke as much as possible. Despite the shinobi's clearly superior skills, he had not administered a fatal blow to the Uchiha. The whole thing reeked of a setup to Gaara, and the curse seal added more support to his theory. There was a slim chance that Orochimaru had thought it would simply kill his teammate slowly, but that did not explain why he used a completely different seal on Naruto. Gaara did not know if the seal would merely keep track of Sasuke, or take him over in some way. What he now knew for certain was that these two attacks were not only connected, but focused solely on the Uchiha.

"In any case," Gaara continued, "Sasuke is in no condition to fight at the moment."

"Shouldn't you be calling your other teammates then?" The one with holes in his hands asked mockingly.

Gaara made a show of squinting at each of the Sound genin in turn, then said, "Nah. I'll do just fine."

The enemy shinobi's face clouded with anger. He pointed one of his palms at Gaara, who did expected it to contain poisoned needles or the like. He did not expect the genin to shout, "_Zankuha!_", and unleash a blast of air at him from the palm of his hand. Gaara's sand effortlessly formed a shield in front of him. It was then that he realized that it was not a blast of air, but of sound. The rush of air was only a side effect. As the sand began to drop, Gaara could see the bandaged ninja charging at him. He had pulled back his sleeve, exposing a thick metal gauntlet that covered his entire forearm. Gaara watched him come, unworried.

"Look out!" Sakura shouted from the cave. At the same time, Gaara saw some of his sand move behind him in the corner of his eye. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the girl had snuck up behind him and tried to stab him in the back with a handful of senbon. Shuddering at the memory of the last shinobi to get near him with senbon, Gaara gathered up the girl in sand and threw her. She rocketed forward like a missile, not stopping until the crown of her head collided with a tree with an audible crack. She landed facedown on the ground and did not move. By now, the bandaged ninja had reached striking range. He lashed out with his gauntleted forearm. Sand leapt up to intercept, and Gaara experienced an odd sensation. Sand lodged itself into his ears, drowning out all sound. He could feel vibration around his ears, and Gaara understood. The holes that were on the gauntlet generated sound, and the bandaged genin could somehow direct it towards an opponent. If that had gone into Gaara's ears, he would have easily lost an eardrum.

Gaara expended some of his chakra to lift dust and grit off of the ground and drive it inside all of the holes in the gauntlet. He packed it in as tight as he could, and the next blow made only a dull clank against his sand barrier. His opponent's one visible eye widened in disbelief as Gaara directed a torrent of sand into the surprised ninja's torso. The shinobi was sent flying before crashing into the ground and rolling out of the clearing. With his teammates no longer in way, the other one began to unleash blasts of sound at Gaara. He allowed them to impact against his sand barrier and walked forward. The enemy ninja must have been extraordinarily stupid, because he did not switch tactics, or even move. He simply kept blasting at Gaara until his sand shield was only a meter away from his palm.

When the enemy shinobi was between blasts, Gaara shot his sand deep into the tubes embedded in his arms. He expected the limbs to explode. Instead, the ninja's arms simply ballooned for a moment. There were satisfyingly loud cracks as all of the bones in his arms were splintered, but there was only a slight spray of blood as bone fragments pierced the skin. Gaara also expected the ninja to scream. Instead, his eyes rolled back in his head as he fell unconscious. Gaara looked around and found that the other two ninja were not where they had fallen. As it registered, he sensed a massive surge of both killer intent and chakra. It was coming from the cave. He looked back and saw the source. Sasuke was awake, and he was beating the snot out of the other two Sound genin. The girl was already down, and he had the bandaged one on his knees. Gaara trotted over towards his teammates, and several disturbing things began to register.

Sasuke was covered in black marks, as if the one on his shoulder had spread out like chicken pox. He was generating so much chakra that it appeared that he was sheathed in purple flames. He had also apparently altered his fighting style somewhat. The bandaged genin was still on his knees. Sasuke had put one hand on his gauntleted wrist and the other on the back of his head. He was repeatedly bashing his opponent's bandaged head onto the gauntlet, causing a resonant gonging sound. He was also saying something in time with each blow. As Gaara got closer, he could make out what Sasuke was saying.

"Stop hitting yourself!"

_Gong._

"Stop hitting yourself!"

_Gong._

"Stop hitting yourself!"

_Oh good_, Gaara thought bemusedly, _I thought that curse seal might have messed with his head_. Sakura was on the ground inside the cave, staring at Sasuke as he concussed his enemy. He could see Naruto as well, still asleep. He sighed in relief, then cleared his throat and said, "Sasuke?"

The Uchiha halted mid-strike, looking at Gaara in mild confusion, "Yes?"

"I think that you won."

Sasuke looked down at his opponent. Blood was beginning to seep through the bandages on his forehead from all of the repetitive hits. His only visible eye was rolled back in his head.

"Oh."

"Are you alright?"

"I don't know. I feel really strong, but kind of dizzy at the same time."

The black marks began to glow, and then slid across Sasuke's flesh. They converged on the spot where he had been bitten and disappeared, as if the original curse seal had absorbed the other marks. Sasuke wobbled slightly on his feet before Sakura latched onto his elbow. The manic light faded from the Uchiha's eyes to be replaced by a look of confusion.

"Sit down and eat something," Gaara suggested gently, "You haven't eaten anything since before the written test, and that was yesterday."

The Uchiha nodded numbly as Sakura led him back inside of the cave. His mildly insane teammate taken care of, Gaara turned to the three Sound genin that had been so horribly defeated. He gathered them all up at the edge of the clearing and searched them. Other than the usual collection of shinobi gear, Gaara found an earth scroll in the belt pouch of the bandaged ninja. He smirked and pocketed it, then tied the three Sound genin to a tree. Gaara started to leave, and then looked at them one last time. Each one sported several injuries and were leaking blood. Sighing in self-exasperation, Gaara pulled out a kunai and threw it into the soil by the unconscious ninja. He just could not stand to leave them there to be devoured by animals. At least they had a chance now.

If Gaara could have known what they were going to do, he would have killed them all.

* * *

Yes, yes. I'm evil incarnate. I know. Please review!


	13. Preliminaries

It's been a really long time since I last updated, I know. On the other hand, this is a really long chapter, so I feel somewhat justified. I've also had finals and other assorted school stuff to deal with, like graduation and my acceptance into Illinois State University. You know. Life.

I do not own _Naruto_ or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Preliminaries**

"How is it?" the Hokage asked.

"It's back to normal now," Naruto replied cheerfully, "I can work my jutsu just as well as I could before."

It had been two days since the Sound genin had attacked Team Seven. Naruto had woken up shortly after the battle had ended. Gaara had informed them of the recovery of the earth scroll from the three enemy ninja, and they had headed for the tower. Two short skirmishes and three hours later, they had made it to the tower in the center of the forest. The Konoha genin had opened their scrolls to be met by a very proud Iruka, who had praised them for finishing in only two days. When Gaara told him of facing Orochimaru and the seals placed on his teammates, Iruka had gone white as a sheet. A group of jonin had whisked Naruto and Sasuke away while Sakura and Gaara were thoroughly debriefed by another group. Gaara had shuddered when he found out that Orochimaru was an S-ranked rogue ninja.

The Hokage himself had come to the tower to hear a report from the genin. Afterwards, he had taken Sasuke and Naruto aside and dealt with their respective seals as best he could. Naruto's he was able to remove after an hour or so, but Sasuke's posed a different kind of problem. Since the Uchiha had already used the curse mark, inadvertently or not, the seal was impossible to remove. Instead, the Hokage had placed another seal on Sasuke, so that as long as he focused his will the mark would not spread. He had warned the Uchiha sternly that every time he used the curse mark it would erode both his mind and his body, no matter how powerful he felt while using it.

Team Seven had been the first cell to reach the tower. The second team to reach the tower had been Rock Lee and his two teammates, the white-eyed genin and the girl with her hair in twin buns. The third cell to arrive had been Temari and Kankuro, the only genin representing Suna to clear the second stage of the exam. After that had been Kabuto's team. His teammates looked enough alike to be twins, and the image was helped by the fact that they wore identical outfits and matching veils over their faces. While Kabuto seemed pleasant enough, his teammates exuded aggression and hostility. Kiba's team was next to arrive, followed three hours later by Ino's.

On the final day, one hour before the deadline, Gaara had watched in stunned silence as the three Sound genin dragged themselves across the threshold of the tower and presented their set of scrolls. All three had glowered at him as they walked past. The girl, the least injured of the three, had been sporting a marvelous black eye and split lip. The leader's bandages had still been stained with blood, and both of the other boy's arms had been in a sling. If they had been able to come back from the beating they had taken, they must have been slightly stronger than Gaara had originally thought.

"Good," the Hokage said, "Well then, good luck with the next round."

The exam proctors had summoned all of the genin that had made it through the forest to a large stadium inside of the tower. Against the far wall, there was a giant statue of a pair of arms forming the ram seal. Along the sides of the room, there were walkways raised several meters off the ground. The genin formed even ranks facing the proctors and the Hokage.

A man with shadows under his eyes stepped forward and addressed the gathered shinobi, "My name is Gekko Hayate, and I will be acting as proctor for this phase of the examination, which will be taking place right here and now. It will be a basic tournament setup of one-on-one matches, the winner of each match being allowed to advance to the final phase of the chunin exam."

"Why do we have to take this part of the test right after we went through that damn forest?" Kiba asked.

"Ordinarily, there are only three phases of the chunin exam, and anyone who made it through the forest would progress to the final phase. However, this year there are an unusual number of candidates that have made it this far. It has been determined that your ranks must be thinned out before the final round. If anyone feels that they cannot continue, say so now! If you choose to quit at this point, it will not penalize your teammates."

Gaara snorted. Who would give up after having come this far?

"Well," Kabuto said, raising his hand in the air, "My time in the forest has drained me quite a bit. I don't think I can win a match this soon after expending so much effort already."

"Come on!" Naruto shouted encouragingly, "You could at least see who you're matched up against!" He pointed towards the battered sound genin, "A freaking three-toed sloth could kick the crap out of those guys!"

The sound genin glowered at Naruto while Gaara smirked. Kabuto waved off Naruto's wheedling, and was escorted out of the room. Hayate coughed roughly and said, "Right. During the fights, there really are no rules. The loser is whoever is knocked out or dies. However, if I declare a winner you will stop immediately! It is not the point of this exam to pile up corpses." A panel of the wall near the ceiling folded down, exposing a computer screen. "This electronic scoreboard with randomly select the two participants of the matches. Now, for the first match."

Letters and symbols flashed across the screen for several seconds before the board settled on two names:

**SASUKE UCHIHA**

**VS**

**YOROI AKADO**

Sasuke and one of the Kabuto's teammates, Yoroi, stepped forward and faced each other. Everyone else ascended stairs to the walkways on either side of the room. All of the Konoha genin and their instructors chose the same wall. Gaara watched with mixed feelings as his siblings followed the Sound ninja onto the walkway across the room. That was when he realized that no jonin from Suna was present in the arena. He surmised that their training must have continued under their father after he had killed Baki.

The proctor called the start of the match and leapt back from the two combatants. Yoroi withdrew a handful of shuriken and threw them at Sasuke. The Uchiha snagged a kunai from his equipment pouch and struck all of the shuriken with one sweep of his knife. His strike was so powerful that the shuriken were rebounded at Yoroi, so that the ninja had to dodge his own weapons. The veiled ninja had already been charging at Sasuke, and he launched himself into a somersault to avoid his shuriken. Sasuke had started forming hand seals the instant he had deflected the shuriken, and as he ended with the sign of the tiger he bellowed, "_Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!_"

A hail of fireballs expelled from Sasuke's mouth as Yoroi rolled to his feet. The elder ninja tried his best to evade them, but was only partially successful. One burned across his forearm, and several more struck him in the chest, setting his shirt on fire. Yoroi slapped at his chest in an effort to extinguish the flames, giving Sasuke the opportunity to run up to him and sink a fist into his gut. The older shinobi doubled over from the impact, his face going down to meet Sasuke's rising kick. The blow snapped Yoroi's dark glasses in half and broke his nose in a spurt of blood. The veiled genin managed to grab Sasuke's arm. Gaara thought he was simply trying to remain upright. Then his hand glowed blue, and Sasuke staggered so badly that he almost fell over. He twisted his arm free from Yoroi's grip and swept the bigger ninja's legs out from under him. The older shinobi crashed to the ground, providing enough time for Sasuke to retreat.

"Bet you felt that," Yoroi said thickly, blood still streaming from his broken nose, "Didn't you, punk? Thanks to my jutsu, I can drain all of your chakra just by touching you!"

"Well, I think I have the perfect counter for that." Sasuke replied easily.

"What might that be, pray tell? " Yoroi asked condescendingly.

In response, Sasuke merely pointed. Yoroi looked down at his shirt, his confident smirk still in place from him momentary defeat of the Uchiha prodigy. An explosive tag fluttered in the waistband of his sash, its edges already smoking. Yoroi's jaw barely had time to drop before the tag went off, blasting the shinobi off his feet to skid along the ground until he was halted by the wall. Hayate walked over to the still form of the defeated ninja and checked his pulse. Finding one, he signaled a group of medic-nin that were standing near a hallway in the corner of the room. They ran over and hauled him out of the room on a stretcher.

"That tag should have vaporized him on the spot," Hayate said evenly.

Sasuke nodded, "I put as little chakra as I could into it. I don't need to squash weaklings to make myself feel high and mighty."

"Yeah," Naruto called down, "He feels that way all the time by himself. It's a little-known side effect of the Sharingan. Oh, no offense sensei!"

Kakashi looked at Naruto, "Did you say something? I was thinking about how awesome I am."

"Anyway," Hayate said irritably, "Sasuke is the winner of the first match. The second one will be determined now."

Once more, the scoreboard spat out two names:

**ZAKU ABUMI**

**VS**

**SHINO ABURAME**

Gaara saw the Sound genin with two broken arms vault over the railing and walk over towards the proctor. Shino, who was much more sedate in nature, started skirting the group of Konoha genin to reach the stairs. After debating with himself for a second, Gaara tugged on Shino's sleeve. The quiet ninja gazed at him with inscrutable, sunglass covered eyes.

"He shoots blasts of sound out of his palms," Gaara told him, "Be careful."

Shino nodded and continued down the steps. He took his place across from Zaku without saying a word, and did not move when the proctor signaled the start of the match. Gaara watched as Zaku shakily withdrew his left arm from its sling and flexed his fingers. The genin leapt at Shino and lashed out with his good arm. Shino blocked almost lazily, not bothering to attempt to grapple or counterattack.

"You can't beat me with just one arm," Shino said, utterly calm, "You should surrender right now."

_This isn't even going to be a fight_, Gaara thought.

"Up yours!" Zaku bellowed. He bent his wrist, pointing the hole in his palm at Shino's face, and let loose with a blast of sound at point blank range. Shino was blasted off his feet and landed three meters away from Zaku, a large gash on one cheek where the attack had connected. He let out a bark of laughter that died in his throat when he saw the swarm of insects that had gathered on the ground behind him. Shino slowly regained his feet, ignoring the brutal looking cut on his cheek. Gaara blinked and looked harder. There were bugs crawling out of the cut on Shino's face.

"These are destruction bugs. They devour chakra," Shino said emotionlessly, "With only one arm you cannot attack both me and my bugs. If you do, one of us will be given an opening to attack you."

"True," Zaku said with a sneer, "But if I kill you, then I win anyway."

"That is not a course of action I would recommend-"

"I'll bet you don't!"

"-because if I die, my destruction bugs will go into a feeding frenzy. They will attack anything in front of them and not stop until they are killed."

"Oh yeah?"

Zaku withdrew his other arm from the sling, pointing one hand at Shino and the other at the gathered bugs. With a mighty bellow, the Sound genin forced all of his chakra into his arms and fired it.

Both arms blew off at the elbow.

The appendages flopped onto the ground, leaking blood. Zaku let out a surprised grunt before falling unconscious. As the proctor ended the match, Shino stepped around his fallen opponent and stood near his bugs. They began to crawl up his legs, not emerging anywhere else. The unruffled shinobi walked back up to the platform, where he received congratulations from his teammates. Medics carted the broken Zaku out of the arena, and the computer screen set up the next match.

**MISUMI TSURUGI**

**VS**

**KANKURO**

Gaara felt an odd sort of apprehension as he watched his older brother hop down into the ring, followed closely by Kabuto's other teammate. Kankuro looked completely unafraid, although when you spent most of your life being trained by someone as harsh as their father, it would take an awful lot to spook you.

"Unlike Yoroi, I don't show mercy," Misumi taunted, "Even to little punks like you. You should give up now, before I end this."

"Is that right?" Kankuro answered amicably. He yanked the bundle off his back and asked, "What if I were to end it even sooner?"

"I won't give you the time!" Misumi shouted. He leapt forward and lashed out at Kankuro. The Sand genin blocked easily, playing right into his opponent's hands. Misumi's entire arm wrapped itself around Kankuro's arm, as if all of the bones had turned to liquid. The veiled genin wrapped himself around Kankuro, locking the rest of his limbs to his body. It seemed that even without bones to support them, Misumi's muscles were still quite strong.

"My body has been altered so that it can fit into any space. I can keep squeezing until I break all of your bones, if I want to. You should surrender now."

"No way."

Misumi snarled and yanked Kankuro's head sharply to one side. There was an audible crack as the bones in his neck gave under the pressure. Gaara went cold inside. He might not have seen Kankuro for years, and never really bonded with him in the first place, but he was his _brother_, damn it. And now he was gone.

"Idiot," Misumi said, "He made me kill him."

Gaara placed his hand on the guardrail in front of him, fully intending to show the veiled bastard how to _really_ crush someone, when Kankuro's head spun around one-hundred and eighty degrees. Extra arms popped out of his sides, and the wooden mask on its face fell off in splinters. Karasu gave Misumi a big, segmented grin before breaking every bone in his torso in one hard squeeze. Kankuro shook himself out of the bundle he had hidden himself in, dusted himself off, and leapt back up to his sister. Gaara took a deep breath and let go of the railing. Faint indentations showed where his fingers had been.

"Isn't two on one cheating?" Naruto asked.

"It isn't two on one," Gaara replied patiently, "That's just a doll that has been modified for combat. Think of it as a giant shuriken, it's just another tool."

"So many weirdoes here."

"Like you're one to talk." Kakashi said, making Sakura laugh.

"The winner is Kankuro," Hayate said, "Now for the next match."

The computer screen flickered through several different names before settling on:

**Ino Yamanaka**

**VS**

**Sakura Haruno**

The two kunoichi leapt down into the arena and faced off against each other. Sakura untied her headband's knot and retied it so that it actually covered her forehead. Gaara looked at Naruto in question. He shrugged in response. Apparently, it held some significance for the two, because Ino's face hardened. She also moved her headband to her forehead.

"I never thought that I would be fighting you, Sakura," Ino said.

"Me neither," Sakura replied, "I'm not going to hold back, Ino. I don't want you to either."

"Ha!" Ino scoffed, "What made you think I would hold ba-"

Sakura punched her hard across the face, cutting Ino off mid-gloat. The blonde was knocked off her feet, but she managed to turn her fall into a backwards roll and came up on her feet. She wiped the corner of her mouth and stared in outrage at the blood on her hand. Sakura was already forming hand seals, and when she finished two bunshins appeared on either side of her. Ino threw a trio of kunai, one at each Sakura. The two bunshins were dispelled when the weapons struck them. Sakura simply channeled chakra into her legs, doubling her speed. She avoided her kunai and punched Ino in the face again, this time on the opposite cheek.

"I'm not the same girl you used to sneer at, Ino," Sakura said, "If you don't give it your all, I'll smash you flat!"

"Bitch!" Ino snarled back, leaping back to her feet. The two began to trade blows and minor jutsu. Gaara supposed it was…interesting. Sakura was a competent kunoichi; she was possessed of a near genius intellect and superb chakra control. She had tremendous potential. Her problem was that she had no real techniques that gave her an edge in combat. Naruto had his clones. Sasuke had his fire jutsu and the Sharingan. Gaara had his sand. Sakura had practically nothing that she had not been given at the academy. If she did not acquire some real strength, she would be steamrolled the first time she was on her own.

The two genin broke apart, thoroughly beaten and breathing heavily. Ino seemed incredulous that Sakura was actually putting up a good fight. The match had dragged on for almost ten minutes, much more than any of the previous matches. Ino dug a hand into her equipment pouch and dashed several small objects at Sakura's feet, causing small cloud of violet smoke to engulf the other girl. Sakura shot out of the side of the cloud as fast as she could, but she still wobbled drunkenly as she moved. A beat later, she sank to one knee, her breathing turning labored. Gaara thought for a moment that Ino had actually administered a lethal poison until Sakura managed to lever herself up on badly shaking legs.

"_Shintenshin no Jutsu!_" Ino shouted, aiming her circled hands at Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi stiffened, and Ino sunk down into a crouch, her eyes vacant.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked.

"That was Ino's _Shintenshin_," Ino's sensei, a tall man with a cigarette in his mouth, said, "She shoots her mind out of her body using a burst of spiritual energy, and takes over the body of her target. She immobilized Sakura with the gas pellets because if she had missed, her body would have been wide open for several minutes. It's not primarily a combat jutsu."

"So right now, Ino has control of Sakura's body," Sasuke said.

"Right," Gaara drawled, "You can tell from how Sakura isn't kicking the crap out of Ino."

The Uchiha glared at Gaara, but said nothing.

Sakura, or Ino, Gaara supposed, raised her hand and said, "I, Sakura Haruno, wish to withdraw from the match."

"Come on, Sakura, don't give up!" Naruto bellowed, "If you let that pathetic Sasuke-chaser beat you, you'll be a disgrace to all women!"

Ino-Sakura sneered at Naruto for a moment, and then stiffened as if she had been given a small electric shock. She gripped her head and staggered around, shuddering. Gaara looked back and forth between Naruto, who was still shouting encouragement, and the stricken kunoichi.

_What the hell?_

"Hey," Hayate asked, "Are you forfeiting the match or not?"

"No way!" Sakura screeched without looking up, "I'm staying in!"

Abruptly, Ino-Sakura made a hand seal, and Ino's body began to move again. The blonde kunoichi looked at Sakura in open amazement. "What the hell is up with you?" She asked incredulously, "There were two psyches in there before I even got in!"

"Don't you know?" Sakura asked, smirking faintly, "Even the sweetest girl has to have a hard center or she won't survive in this world."

Gaara could sense that the two had both run out of chakra. The first one to land a blow would be the winner. Both girls lifted themselves to their feet. They gathered themselves and charged at each other, fists pulled back for the final strike. They met each other halfway and both threw their punches at the same time. Ino and Sakura's blows caught the other directly in the face, knocking both kunoichi unconscious. Hayate looked at both of the combatants.

"Neither of the participants is able to continue the match," He said, "And so, neither participant will move past the preliminary round."

Gaara used his sand to lift the two girls onto the walkway. Their teammates immediately crowded around the two unconscious kunoichi. Kakashi and Ino's sensei, Asuma, checked their students briefly.

"None of their injuries are bad enough to require medical attention," Asuma said, "They should wake up within the next half hour."

"Actually, I can wake them up now," Kakashi said, "I copied a medical jutsu a few years back that's just about perfect for this kind of situation." He formed several hand seals, and pressed his palm to both girls' foreheads. The two began to stir almost immediately. "Basically," Kakashi explained, "It sends a jolt of energy through the body that triggers the adrenal glands. Pretty handy for waking up someone who's knocked out, or starting a heart up again if it stops."

"Ahem," Hayate said, "The next match will begin now. Choji Akimichi and Dosu Kinuta, please come down here."

The Sound genin with the bandages and gauntlet hopped down in front of the exam proctor, soon followed by Ino's heavyset teammate.

"Come on, fatso," Dosu said, "I haven't got all day."

"Shit," Shikamaru muttered.

"What," Choji asked quietly, "Did you say?"

"I said hurry up, you fat tub of lard. Do you want me to dangle a cheeseburger on a string for you? Give you some motivation?"

"I'M NOT FAT! I'M PLEASINGLY PLUMP!" Choji roared, "_BAIKA NO JUTSU!_"

In the most absurd jutsu Gaara had ever seen, Choji's gut expanded like a balloon. Then he started to roll like a giant hamster ball. A _fast_ hamster ball. Dosu leapt out of the way of Choji's charge, and the inflated genin had to pull a hard turn to take another pass at his opponent. Fortunately, Dosu's dodge had pressed his back against a wall. Choji came at him like a cannonball. At the last second, Dosu leapt upward. Choji crashed into the wall, forming a crater that held him in place just long enough for Dosu to sink his gauntleted arm into Choji's body up to the elbow. The bandaged genin rapped a finger on his gauntlet, causing a blast of smoke. When it cleared, Choji was on his stomach, clearly knocked senseless.

"The human body is over seventy percent water," Dosu said, "A great conductor of sound. Once those troublesome rotations stopped, it was a simple matter to target your eardrums." He looked up at the assembled Konoha genin and said, "I also do not have to swat flies for my self esteem."

A high-pitched buzzing emanated from Shino for a moment, prompting his teammates to sidle away from him. Sasuke snorted in contempt as Asuma retrieved his student. Choji was just disorientated; it would wear off after a few minutes. The computer spat out the next pair of names, and Temari and Lee's female teammate, Tenten, faced off in the arena. Temari leaned easily against her giant fan, waiting for the other girl to start. Tenten obliged with a pair of thrown kunai. Temari gripped the top of her fan and tilted it so that it covered most of her torso. The weapons bounced off the fan's metal casing, but they were only the first of many. Tenten was backpedaling, drawing weapons from her pouch so fast that her hands were a blur, throwing them with equal speed and precision. Temari smirked, unfurled her fan, and gave it a negligent sweep. A gust of wind blasted the screen of weapons into disarray and knocked Tenten off her feet.

The kunoichi recovered quickly, rolling to her feet and withdrawing a scroll from her equipment pouch. She pirouetted, allowing the scroll to unfurl as she did so that she was in the center of a spire of paper. Gaara felt a surge of chakra come from her, and suddenly weapons of all kinds began to shoot out of the scroll. Shuriken, kunai, scythes, maces, and even a few katana flew from the scroll, so thick it looked like a swarm of insects. Tenten's teammates had dived for cover the instant they had seen her take out the scroll, and now Gaara followed suit, dragging Naruto with him. Weapons thudded into the wall above their heads. A mace bounced off, and Gaara's sand had to deflect it. He could hear Temari's shriek of surprise.

"_Kamaitachi no Jutsu!_"

There was a tremendous gust of wind, accompanied by a scream from Tenten. Gaara and the rest of the Konoha shinobi got up and looked down at the arena. Weapons littered the ground everywhere. Temari's dress had several cuts in it, and there were scratches on her arms and legs. Tenten had been flattened, her scroll torn to shreds. She was covered in lacerations from Temari's jutsu. Hayate called in the medics, declaring Temari the winner. The Sand kunoichi jumped back up to her brother, who earned a smack on the back of the head for some snide comment Gaara could not hear. The computer screen, meanwhile, had decided on the next match:

**NARUTO UZUMAKI**

**VS**

**KIBA INUZUKA**

Naruto let out a whoop, "Well, it's about time! Thanks for being patient, everyone! I'm gonna to make this worth you wait!"

Gaara clapped him on the shoulder. "Good luck, Naruto."

Naruto grinned back. "Luck's got nothing to do with it! I'm gonna kick his ass!"

He vaulted over the railing to face off against his opponent. Kiba was smirking confidently. He had let his dog down off his head, and it stood next to him while barking at Naruto. Gaara had no idea why Kiba would drag him around everywhere; he was still just a puppy.

"Whoo hoo!" Kiba shouted, "We lucked out, Akamaru! This fight is as good as ours!"

"Shut up, jerk," Naruto fired back, "Why don't you send your puppy dog home? He'll just get in the way of our fight."

"No way. Akamaru fights beside me, like always."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Naruto turned to Hayate. "Is this allowed?"

"The rules are clear. Animals and insects used as part of a ninja's art are the same as any other tools and weapons. Now quit bickering and begin!"

Kiba sunk down into a crouch and formed a hand seal. Gaara sensed his chakra surge as Kiba's nails elongated into claws, and his teeth sharpened into small fangs. He pressed his palms into the ground so that he was down on all fours. Then he sprang forward and shoulder charged Naruto, knocking the blonde clean off his feet. Naruto clambered back to his feet, shook himself slightly, and motioned for Kiba to come again. The other genin obliged, rushing forward for another shoulder charge. Naruto had taken his measure, though. He threw himself to the side, dodging Kiba's attack. Balancing on one foot, Naruto spun around and kicked Kiba in the back of the head. Thanks to his low stance, Kiba was able to maneuver into a roll that brought him back to his hands and feet.

"Is that all you've got?" Naruto asked.

"Look who's talking," Kiba replied, "You've got blood all over your face."

"I let you hit me so I could see what you're made of! You can fight by yourself or with your dog, I don't really care! I'm still gonna lay you out to dry!"

This time, Akamaru accompanied his master as they attacked. Kiba withdrew two small balls from his equipment pouch and threw them at Naruto's feet. They generated two large blasts of smoke that completely engulfed the blonde shinobi. Kiba and Akamaru dove into the smoke before Naruto could escape. Gaara could hear the meaty thuds of a fist striking flesh, several loud snarling barks, followed by Naruto's cries of pain. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was flat on his back. Akamaru stood beside his beaten prey, barking in victory.

"Good boy, Akamaru!" Kiba shouted. He slapped his thighs with both hands, prompting his dog to run towards him. Kiba reached down to pet his dog, but recoiled in shock when Akamaru bit down hard on his forearm. In a puff of smoke, Akamaru was replaced with Naruto, still biting down on Kiba's arm near the wrist.

"Yuck!" Naruto said, spitting, "You taste like dog!"

The Naruto that had been lying on the ground got up, grinning cheerfully. Another one ambled over holding Akamaru by his front paws. The dog was whining in discontent. Kiba looked from one Naruto to another, a fierce scowl clouding his face as he realized just how badly he had been suckered. He reached into his equipment pouch again and withdrew a small pellet. With a flick of his thumb, Kiba sent the pellet straight into Akamaru's waiting mouth. The small dog swallowed it whole, and then his entire body turned bright scarlet. He drove his hind legs into the clone that was holding him with such force that it was destroyed. The dog dropped back to the ground and scampered back to his master. Kiba swallowed one of the pellets as well, causing a rush of strength that almost doubled his chakra.

Akamaru let out a bark, and in a burst of smoke, he transformed into a doppelganger of Kiba. A shuriken from each one destroyed the two remaining Naruto clones. Then genin and his transformed dog formed a hand seal and launched themselves at Naruto, almost too fast to see. The blonde took a slash across the face and was knocked into the air before he could react. He managed to tuck and roll in midair and land on his feet, just in time to doge the next pair of strikes his two opponents launched at him. He ducked at the last instant, but still took several cuts along his shoulders. _He must be driving all of his chakra into his legs to move that fast_, Gaara thought, _but it still isn't enough_.

The next attacks Kiba and Akamaru made were aimed low at Naruto's legs. The blonde jumped into the air, cleanly avoiding both strikes. This only caused Kiba to smirk. He and his partner skidded to a halt much faster than they had managed before and threw themselves at Naruto. Extending their arms away from their bodies, they began to spin until they formed twin tornadoes of sharp claws, streaking toward Naruto like bullets. They impacted Naruto while he was still airborne, shredding his jacket and covering him in lacerations. He hit the ground face first, like a sack of potatoes. Gaara thought he was unconscious until he spat blood onto the ground in front of his face.

"Damn it," Naruto groaned, "I can't lose to you. I'm gonna be the Hokage someday."

"You're still going on about that?" Kiba scoffed, "Nobody like you could ever be the Hokage, but I tell you what. I'll become Hokage in your place! How do you like that?"

In response, Naruto hauled himself to his feet. He shook himself, spat more blood onto the floor, and wiped a hand across his brow to keep the blood out of his eyes. "If you come between me and the title Hokage, you'll whimper like a whipped dog."

Kiba and Akamaru launched themselves at Naruto again, now exclusively using the tornado style taijutsu. After seeing it once, Naruto was just barely able to dodge as they came at him, but it was a near thing. Gaara could see Naruto's old wounds sealing up as his demon focused on damage control. His heart leapt into his throat when instead of dodging the next attack, Naruto charged at it head on. There was a puff of smoke, and suddenly there were _three_ Kiba copies facing each other. Naruto had used the art of transformation to turn himself into Kiba.

"Good one," Kakashi said.

Gaara just smirked.

"A word of warning," Kiba said, "I was careless before, but now I'm on to you. That transformation trick won't work twice!"

Without warning, he hauled off and punched one of the Kiba copies in the face. The victim of the surprise attack was knocked off his feet and landed in a heap on the ground.

"And here's why," Kiba continued, smirking, "I can smell you. Never underestimate a canine's olfactory acuity."

The floored copy disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kiba's jaw dropped when, instead of Naruto, Akamaru was revealed when the smoke dissipated. With a roar of anger, he rounded on his other copy, who frantically waved his arms, before Kiba struck him in the face as well. Due to his anger, Kiba's second strike was actually stronger than the first, so that his copy was sent rolling across the floor for several meters before stopping. A second cloud of smoke revealed Akamaru once more as the victim of the strike. Kiba's face slackened in shock as he turned. Naruto was standing right behind him, grinning triumphantly.

"Hey," he said amicably, "I've got this new technique I've been wanting to try. Want to see it?"

Kiba threw himself away from Naruto, desperate to give himself some maneuvering room.

Too slowly.

Naruto formed a hand seal and said calmly, "_Taju Kagebunshin no jutsu._"

Kiba was instantly surrounded by a mob of Naruto clones. He twisted around, looking in disbelief at all of the clones, before the first one punched him across the jaw. Kiba fell back from the strike, and three clones behind him kicked upward simultaneously, striking him in the back and propelling him in the air. Another clone was waiting for him already, and with a midair summersault brought his foot down into Kiba's face, driving him back into the ground with an audible thump.

"Naruto Uzumaki Barrage!" They bellowed in unison. Kiba rammed into the ground face first, splattering blood onto the ground from the force of his impact. He twitched once and was still. Hayate walked over to the beaten genin and checked his vitals.

"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto let out a whoop of victory and punched the air. He ran over to the ground underneath the walkway and straight up three meters to the railing, where Gaara was waiting with an outstretched hand to help him over. The two grabbed each other around the shoulders in a one-armed hug, grinning so wide that their faces throbbed. Both of them knew that this was more than a simple victory. Naruto had just elevated himself in the estimations of all of his peers. He had gone from being dismissed on sight as a troublemaker and a failure to being a true shinobi, a threat worth consideration and respect. It was a great triumph for Naruto.

The next match sucked all of the cheer right out of them.

Gaara finally discovered the identities of the white eyed genin when the computer set the match up. The girl was Hinata Hyuga, and the older boy was her cousin, Neji Hyuga. Lee explained the complexities of their clan as the two prepared to fight. As soon as the family members faced off, Gaara could sense hatred pour off Neji in waves so palpable they were almost visible. That could have been acceptable, if any of it had shown on his face. The genin's anger and resentment were so thick in the air that Shukaku was rustling around in idle curiosity, and yet not one muscle in his face twitched. For such intense emotion to be present without any external sign was unsettling on an animal level to Gaara. He felt the urge to rush forward and stop the match before it began. By the look of her, Hinata could sense it too. She quailed before the older boy like a sapling watching an oncoming hurricane.

Kakashi was telling everyone about the Byakugan as the match began. Neji surprised Gaara by not immediately attacking his cousin. Instead, he began to speak. He talked in a neutral, controlled voice just barely audible to those clustered on the walkways. His aura pulsed and twitched as he did. It took Gaara a moment to realize that he was savoring every word as if it were a blow. Hinata had started to shake, and her eyes misted with unshed tears as her cousin calmly talked about her many shortcomings. Neji's psychological warfare was tearing her to pieces. Gaara felt himself start to get angry. It was one thing to taunt an opponent into making mistakes, to undermine their confidence and reduce their combat effectiveness. This was just…_sick_. The girl was nowhere near his level. He was torturing her for his own sadistic amusement.

A soft, bestial snarl rumbled to Gaara's right. He flicked his gaze towards the sound momentarily, and then did a double take. Naruto was clutching the railing in front of him in two fists. The metal was pinched and deformed near his hands, indicating the strength of his grip. His eyes had turned red as he drew on demon chakra in his anger, although there was no visible aura yet. The pure strength he was generating did cut off Neji's speech as every shinobi in the room stared at Naruto.

"Hinata!" Naruto bellowed, so suddenly and loudly that Gaara jumped, "Don't listen to him! You've got all the power you need to beat him! Grind him into the dirt and show him!"

Hinata stared at Naruto for a moment longer than everyone else did as they turned back to the match. When she did refocus on Neji, her face was set in determination. She took a formal stance in a style Gaara had not seen before, and beckoned to her cousin to begin the fight. The two flowed towards each other and began to exchange blows, neither one seeming to have an advantage. Gaara laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder and squeezed. The blonde glanced sidelong at him, then took deep breaths and pried his hands from the railing. The metal bar was crushed and twisted, clear imprints visible where Naruto's fingers had dug into the steel. Naruto had finally managed to catch his breath when the match came to its conclusion.

Hinata launched a palm strike at Neji's face, and almost managed to connect. At the last second, the older genin caught Hinata's hand by the wrist and jabbed two stiffened fingers into a spot on her arm behind the elbow. Gaara sensed a dip in Hinata's chakra as energy stopped circulating through the limb. Neji delivered several more precise strikes to his cousin's torso and arms, dropping her to the floor in a heap as her chakra ceased flowing. Showing tenacity Gaara would not have expected from her, Hinata slowly brought herself back to her feet. Neji stared at her for a moment. Then, he calmly stepped forward and began to methodically strike Hinata until she fell once more.

The cycle continued for several painful minutes, more than long enough to work Naruto up into a rage again. Gaara was getting angry right along with him. Neji was toying with his cousin, seeing how many hits she could take before she dropped. Blood leaked from her nostrils and the corners of her mouth, her limbs shook uncontrollably, but still she rose. Over and over, until almost all of the Konoha genin were whispering to themselves that if she would just _stay down_, it would be over. Gaara got the impression that not one of them would hold it against her. Even Sasuke, who generally did not care about anyone he did not know, was staring at Neji's back with a fierce scowl on his face.

Neji was holding Hinata on her feet by her coat. The girl's eyes were fluttering, and Gaara fervently hoped that she would pass out so that the match could end. Slowly, as if every inch of movement gave her pain, Hinata cocked back her hand in a palm strike. Neji simply stared at her trembling hand, and then without warning drove his palm into Hinata's chest with a burst of chakra. Blood sprayed out of Hinata's mouth when the blow connected. Neji unclenched his fist, and Hinata collapsed to the ground, unmoving. Hayate hurriedly called the match and he, along with half of the shinobi in the arena, rushed toward Hinata. Medics were already loading her onto a stretcher, one of them shouting that Neji's strike had cleaved into her heart and that if they didn't get moving _right the fuck now_ she was going to die before they could reach an operating table.

Naruto, who had wormed his way through the crowd somehow, laid a hand against the edge of Hinata's stretcher. The medics attempted to raise it up and take Hinata, and were halted by Naruto's demon enhanced strength. One turned to shout at him, but Naruto was sheathed in red chakra and snarling in wrath, and the medic's shout died in his throat. Smoothly, as if he had done it a thousand times before, Naruto gently placed a hand at the base of Hinata's throat, and his other just below her ribs. Then he began to funnel chakra through his limbs and into the battered girl. His aura expanded until Hinata was covered in it as well. Her eyelids flickered as if she were dreaming, and her fingers began to twitch spasmodically. Gaara suddenly realized that Naruto was crudely duplicating his healing factor in Hinata by forcing his chakra into her. Hinata had nowhere near Naruto's chakra levels, and her body was using the excess energy to replace the cells Neji had destroyed with his attacks.

Thirty seconds that felt like thirty hours later, Naruto removed his hands from Hinata and stepped back. Her breathing had stabilized, and she merely looked as if she were asleep. Red chakra continued to dance along her form for a few moments after Naruto ceased contact, but soon disappeared. Not a sound was made by anyone in the stadium. One of the medics used a jutsu to check Hinata again.

"She's healed," he said in quiet wonder, "Her heart is completely healed. Her life is no longer in any danger. The internal injuries were the only ones that warranted medical attention. After a few hours rest, she should be just fine."

Everyone stared at Naruto's retreating back in numb shock. Neji, who had stayed outside of the crowd, watched the blonde warily. When he drew level with the white eyed genin, Naruto paused and looked at him. His face was carefully blank as he regarded the older boy, but Gaara could tell that he was still angry.

"You'd better hope that we don't face each other in the next test," Naruto said evenly, "Because if you do, I'm going to pay you back for this with interest."

"I'm not afraid of you," Neji replied tersely, "A true shinobi would never demean himself by cheering during a serious match. Hinata-sama lost because she was destined to lose, just as I was destined to win."

The Hyuga turned his back on Naruto and stalked away. Naruto stood staring at him as he left, and Gaara took the opportunity to catch up with him and grab his shoulder.

"What the hell was that?" Gaara asked curiously.

"Rent," Naruto grated out.

"Huh?"

"I could hear it."

Gaara stared at him in confusion for a moment before he realized what his friend meant. "You _talked_ to it? The Nine Tailed Fox?"

"Yeah. It said that it would help me heal Hinata…for a price."

Gaara went cold inside. "What price?"

Naruto frowned at the ground, kicking it absently. "It said that there would be a fight soon, one that I wouldn't be able to survive on my own. It said that I was the kind of fool that would charge into it anyway, and that in exchange for helping Hinata, I would have to give it control of my body so that it could defeat my opponent for me."

"Naruto, are you _insane_? We can't trust these things inside of us, not even a little bit. Not for one second. The medics would have taken care of Hinata, you know that. Why would you make a deal with that thing?"

"You heard Guy-sensei's description of the Gentle Fist. Hinata got hit in the chest a bunch of times, which means that her internal organs were being torn to shreds. Making a deal with the Fox was the only way I could be _sure_ she would make it."

Gaara opened his mouth.

"It's been done already, anyway. The only thing we can do is keep moving forward and worry about it when it happens."

Gaara shut his mouth and settled for glowering at Naruto. In his position, Gaara probably would have done the same thing anyway.

Hayate coughed, snapping everyone out of the stunned haze they had fallen into. "Well," he said, "There's only one match left now. Everyone but Rock Lee and Gaara please return to the walkways."

Gradually, the gathered Konoha ninja returned to their places, leaving Gaara and Lee to face off in front of the proctor. Lee gave Gaara the courtesy of a bow, which the redhead returned. He pulled the cork out of his gourd, crossed his arms, and waited. Lee did not disappoint him. The green clad shinobi rushed forward, leaping into the air and launching a whirling kick toward the side of Gaara's head. Sand gushed out of the gourd and intercepted the attack. Lee hopped backward, staring at the sand in surprise for a moment, before recovering and throwing a barrage of punches and kicks at Gaara. The sand flawlessly interposed itself between Lee's attacks and Gaara, and then flowed forward to try to capture the other genin.

Lee executed several back flips to escape the grasping sand. Not to be beaten so easily, Gaara lashed out with a thin tendril of sand, knocking Lee's arms out from under him. He managed to bring his feet back under him before he could crash into the ground, and he kicked off the floor hard enough that he was propelled onto the statue that rested against one wall of the arena.

"Lee!" Guy called from the walkway, "Go ahead and take them off!"

"But," Lee responded in surprise, "Guy-sensei, you told me only to remove them while protecting someone precious to me!"

"That's alright; I'll allow it just this once!"

Lee grinned fiercely while he pulled off his orange legwarmers. Underneath them were plain canvas wraps that appeared to be holding bricks to his legs. Lee removed them and held them aloft for everyone to see. _Ah_, Gaara thought, _they're weights_.

"Now I can move more freely," Lee exclaimed happily. With a casual flick of his wrists, he let the weights drop to the ground. Gaara smirked to himself. Dumping a few weights wasn't going to help Lee.

Then, several things happened at once.

First, Lee's weights hit the ground. Twin blasts of vaporized concrete shot twenty feet into the air from the points of contact with the ground, meaning that they weighed _a lot_.

Second, Guy bellowed, "Now, Lee, explode!"

Third, Lee let out a mad whoop, sprang off the statue…, and _disappeared_.

Gaara heard a thud of impact behind him, and saw his sand barrier whip around in a block. He tried to turn, but was too slow to react before Lee struck.

It saved his head.

Lee's fist blew clean through the sand barrier. Gaara, halfway through a turn, felt the knuckle of Lee's pinky finger brush his cheek. If Gaara had completed his spin, the blow would have hit him dead in the nose. Then he vanished once again, and lashed out with a midair kick at Gaara's shoulder. The barrier just barely slowed the hit enough for Gaara to lean back out of the way of the attack. Even then, the bottom of Lee's sandal skimmed the end of his nose. Lee shot a feint at Gaara's ankles, then leapt into the air, executed a midair somersault Gaara would have admired in a less adversarial situation, and brought the heel of his foot down at Gaara's face. The blow caught him in the left cheek, and impacted with such force that it put a cut just below his left eye.

Gaara barely had time to register surprise that the hit had connected before Lee launched a punch that caught him in the opposite cheek, knocking him clean off his feet. He landed flat on his face, and stayed there, unable to move any of his limbs. There was almost no pain, and his thoughts remained clear, but the messages his brain were attempting to send to his body did not seem to be making it. Abruptly, Gaara's sand began to slow until it seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. Suddenly, he could even see Lee as he charged at him, a fist cocked back to strike. Gaara realized with a rush of dread that if he did not move, Lee would be able to blow clean through his sand barrier and pummel him at will.

A sudden, horrible realization struck Gaara as he watched his defeat approach.

The proctor had said there were three methods of victory in these matches. One fighter had to either give up, faint, or die. Gaara doubted he would be able to spit out the words to surrender before Lee reached him, especially since he was still stunned from the headshot. From what he had seen, Gaara was fairly sure that Lee was too honorable a person to kill a defenseless opponent, especially one who was a fellow Konoha shinobi. Which meant, in Gaara's estimation, that the most likely result of Lee wining the match would be a knockout.

Which would release Shukaku into a room full of tired shinobi children.

Gaara tried desperately to speak the words, to surrender and save his friends. But his nerves were still shot from Lee's hits, and time had seemed to stop entirely. Tears blurring his vision, Gaara closed his eyes and waited to awaken and see what carnage his weakness had allowed to transpire.

_**There is another way.**_

Gaara's eyes snapped open. Sitting in front of his prostrate body was a hunched, shadowy form. Two golden eyes gleamed out of the figure's head. Shukaku had projected a shade of himself to communicate with Gaara.

_Ah. I suppose you're the one who froze time as well._

_**Naturally. I simply sped up your brain's functions to make time appear to move more slowly.**_

_Go away. I don't want to have anything to do with you._

_**Really? Even if I were to give you the opportunity to save your friends?**_

…

_**I can only do this for so long, you know.**_

_I'm listening._

_**I will give you enough of my power to defeat this buffoon, for a price.**_

_I'm not going to let you take over my mind, even for a minute. You'll just have to wait until I fall unconscious and enjoy what time you're given before the Hokage kicks your ass._

_**As if that shriveled prune could defeat me. Nevertheless, I will not influence your mind. I swear it. I will merely give you enough strength to defeat him.**_

_Why should I believe you?_

_**You have not yet heard my price.**_

_Oh, yes. I had forgotten. Let's hear it._

_**That jumpsuit-wearing idiot has damaged your body, and by extension, he has damaged me. My price is that you pay him back, with interest.**_

_And if I don't, you'll go crazy and go on a killing spree. Either I maim one person, or you maim dozens of them._

_**Exactly.**_

_At least you're honest in your extortion._

_**It is the only concession I am willing to give. Do you accept?**_

_You're in my brain already. Surely, you know my answer._

_**That's not good enough. I have to hear you **_**say****_ it._**

…_yes…_

_**Yes, what?**_

_I accept, goddamn it!_

The shadow disappeared, roaring in victory. Power flowed out of Gaara's center, saturating his very being with energy until he felt drunk with it. Time started to flow normally again, and Lee resumed his charge. This time, though, Gaara's demon enhanced eyes could see him. Gaara charged out to meet him halfway. Lee's eyes widened in shock as Gaara came at him with speed that surpassed his own. Sand coalesced into a glove with the consistency of a concrete block around Gaara's right fist, and Gaara hammered it into Lee's face. He was knocked clean off his feet, but Gaara could not stop. Shukaku was whispering their deal in his mind, compelling him to continue. Sand lashed out with Gaara's will, forming a blast that took Lee like a tidal wave. It drove him into the wall with bone rattling force. Lee jumped to his feet just in time to receive a sideswiping follow up hit that sent him sprawling to the ground.

Gaara thought that he had the fight won. Then Lee used a burst of speed to rush forward, faster than even Shukaku was allowing him to see, and kick him in the chin. Gaara felt more kicks pummel his body, driving him higher up into the air and out of the protective embrace of his sand. Lee grabbed his shoulders from behind, and began to spin Gaara around until he could no longer see the world around him. Shukaku gave him a burst of power and a flash of insight. Gaara formed a hand seal, and instead of Lee slamming him into the ground, he shattered a large chunk of broken concrete into the ground. Lee was panting by the time the attack was done, and Gaara pressed his advantage. Lee's landing had put him between Gaara and his sand. Gaara called it to him, and a mass of sand collided with Lee's back with the force of a rampaging elephant.

The green clad shinobi turned the blow to his advantage, using his momentum to fire himself at Gaara like a bullet. Lee's skull rammed into Gaara's forehead, splitting the skin and sending the redhead sprawling. Lee pressed his knees into Gaara's shoulders and began to batter him with his fists. Gaara endured several hard blows before he remembered his sand. With a burst of chakra, the sand turned from a cloud into a cannonball and rocketed at Lee's back. The ball of sand hit Lee between the shoulder blades and knocked him off Gaara, who wiped blood from his eyes and sat up, just in time to sense a massive outpouring of chakra.

Lee had somehow managed to land on his feet. His flesh had turned bright red, and he had so much chakra that it was generating blue flames around his body. He emanated so much power that Gaara could practically feel it radiating against his skin. Rigidly, Lee turned his face and stared directly at Gaara.

_I have a feeling this is going to hurt._

_**Indeed. You'd better-**_

Lee shot across the floor so fast it tore the concrete to shreds. Gaara was sent flying across the arena, only to take another blow in the back, and another, and another. Lee mercilessly rained punishing blows on Gaara, who was too slow to fight back even with Shukaku helping him. Gaara was kicked toward the ceiling, but Lee was already waiting for him. He punched Gaara across the mouth, driving him back into the floor. Or he would have, if Lee had not grabbed a fistful of his belt and yanked Gaara back toward himself. Twin impacts drove into Gaara's chest, and sent him once more rocketing toward the ground. At the last second, he ballooned his gourd out behind him. He still hit the ground hard enough to make his bones creak, but it did not knock him unconscious or kill him. Lee was facedown on the ground a few feet away, feebly trying to rise again. Even as Gaara watched him, he could sense another surge of chakra forming.

Gaara lashed out with his chakra and will. His sand, which had been somewhat disappointing him lately, wrapped itself around Lee's right arm and leg. With a clenched fist, Gaara shattered both limbs as if they were twigs. Lee let out an anguished cry and collapsed with a thud. The only movement he made was the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. He was beaten.

_**Our bargain is concluded.**_

_Really?_

_**Truly. You are surprised?**_

_I thought you'd want me to do more damage to him before you were satisfied._

_**Oh. I see. You didn't notice.**_

_Notice what?_

_**When you struck him in the back with that sand ball, it fractured his spine. Not badly, but noticeably. All of the activity only worsened it. I would be very surprised if he ever regains full mobility ever again.**_

…_I did what?_

_**That's the most I've wrung out of you in years. I'll help you out the next time you're in severe danger. Unless, of course, you want some just for the hell of it. You know where to call…**_

Gaara stared in numb horror at the ceiling as he felt Shukaku withdraw. He had robbed Lee of his future, not Shukaku. The demon had simply been the tool. Gaara had been the one to pull the trigger. Gaara had maimed an ally, a fellow Konoha shinobi.

In his darkest dreams, he had never thought it possible.

And so, as all of the friends he had just saved ran toward him, Gaara wept.

* * *

I'm betting you didn't see that one coming. Please review!


	14. Brotherly Love

Sorry I took so long. My dog ate my hard drive. Enjoy the pun in the second paragraph.

I do not own _Naruto_ or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Brotherly Love**

"Hey, Gaara."

Gaara was using his bed for the first time in months. He was not actually sleeping, of course, but it was the best way to rest himself while recovering from his injuries. As a consequence of using so much of Shukaku's power during his match, the demon had apparently withdrawn his healing powers for a time. Gaara had received no serious injuries, but he was still drained from handling so much demonic chakra. A glance at his window showed Naruto hanging in the frame like a monkey. He opened the window further and let himself into the room. Since it was almost never used, Gaara's bedroom was extremely neat and clean, like the guest room of someone who did not entertain guests very often.

The chunin exam preliminaries had ended three days ago. Just as Shukaku had said, Gaara had fractured Lee's spine during their fight. The older boy had sunken into a coma when Gaara had finally knocked him out, and he had not woken up yet. Gaara had asked Naruto if he could help Lee like he had Hinata. Although he had tried his hardest, he was unable to duplicate the technique. Naruto had been mad with fury at Neji when he had healed her, and he just could not summon the same kind of resentment towards his best friend.

Gaara sat up. "What's up?"

"Well, I was training today, and I met this pervy-sage guy," Naruto replied.

"Did you just say 'pervy-sage guy'?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Just checking. What about him?"

"He kicked the shit out of the guy that was training me, so he's going to train me instead. I'm going to be gone for the rest of the month."

"Okay," Gaara said, monotonously.

"Look, you haven't been yourself since your fight. I know you're upset, but judging by what you told me, you didn't have any choice but to work with Shukaku."

Gaara closed his eyes. "I should have found a way. I should never have dropped my guard and even fallen into a situation like that in the first place."

Naruto frowned. "You're being too hard on yourself. You are only human, after all."

"Yes, but Shukaku isn't human, and my seal doesn't insulate me as well as yours does. I have to be better than human. I _have_ to be."

"You're wrong. You don't have to be superhuman. Do you know why?"

"Tell me."

"Because you're not alone. You've got me, and you've got Yashamaru. We don't hang around to complement the scenery, you know. By the sounds of it, Yashamaru almost picked a fight with your dad when he thought he had threatened you. When I thought that Haku had killed you on the bridge, I almost killed him. People who don't care don't do that kind of stuff for each other. We're here to catch you when you fall, just like you do when one of us is in trouble. You're my brother, in every way that counts if not by blood. If you ever need me, for anything, all you have to do is call. And if anyone should try to stop me…" Naruto laid a hand on his stomach, over the seal that held in a monster that shattered mountains with a passing gesture. "Then they'll be sorry."

Gaara swallowed and bowed his head. He swept his hands across his eyes, to wipe away the unshed tears.

"You okay?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Gaara replied. He smirked. "I just got some sand in my eye."

Naruto grinned back. "Right. See you in a month."

"Yes."

Naruto climbed back out of the window and disappeared down the street. Gaara got up, and his stomach rumbled. Now that he thought about it, he had not eaten anything for almost a day now. Gaara winced when he realized Yashamaru was not home yet, which meant he would have to fend for himself if he wanted food. He walked into the kitchen, and thankfully there were enough leftovers that Gaara did not have to use a heating element. Yashamaru walked in half an hour later.

"Hey," Gaara said.

"Hey," Yashamaru replied. He frowned. "Did you make those?"

Gaara held up a leftover rice ball. "Nope. Found them in the refrigerator."

"I made those almost two weeks ago."

Gaara's stomach gurgled. "Whoops."

"Tomorrow will be interesting for you."

"Nah. Demonic healing factor and all that."

"I'm glad to see that you're up."

"Naruto swung by earlier."

"Ah."

"We talked for a bit."

"Ah."

"You're annoying me a little."

"Ah."

"Stop it."

"Ah."

Gaara threw a rice ball at him. Yashamaru dodged, and it flew out of the open window. Gaara faintly heard a muffled curse come from the street below.

"Um," Gaara said, "At least they won't be able to tell which window it came from."

"Ah."

* * *

The next morning, Yashamaru rose early. He and Gaara had an early breakfast, and then Yashamaru told Gaara to follow him before leaping out of the window. Once he had gotten his heart rate under control, Gaara followed his uncle through most of the village until they reached the training grounds.

"What are we doing here?" Gaara asked.

"Picnic," Yashamaru replied easily.

Gaara stared at him.

"I'm just kidding. We're going to train."

"I'm no good at medical ninjutsu. You know that."

Yashamaru just grinned at him. Then he shot forward so fast that Gaara could not even see him. When he came to a halt, Yashamaru was a bare inch from Gaara. He reached out and tweaked Gaara's nose as his sand rose belatedly to defend him. If Yashamaru had been attacking Gaara, he would have been able to land one hell of a blow.

Just like Lee.

"Medical jutsu wasn't what I had in mind," Yashamaru said cheerfully, stepping out of Gaara's personal space.

"I've been wondering about that," Gaara said, "When did you get so good at taijutsu? You lifted that jerk at the hospital with one hand like he was stuffed with feathers-"

"More like hot air," Yashamaru corrected.

"-and you got in Father's face so quickly it surprised even him," Gaara continued, ignoring his uncle's interruption, "I thought that you didn't like to fight."

"That's true, I didn't. But then your father tried to kill us."

"Ah," Gaara said, understanding.

"It's possible I had issues after that."

"Ah."

"Stop it. And it's possible that I worked through those issues at the gym."

"Who did you train with, exactly?"

Yashamaru grinned. "Kakashi."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. He threw me around for a couple of months until my taijutsu got up to scratch. Then he threw me around for a few more before I developed my jutsu."

Gaara raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you made your own jutsu. What is it? Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Hey, everyone has stuff they keep to themselves right? Like, maybe, you almost being killed in the Land of Waves?"

Gaara winced. "You heard about that, huh?"

"Word gets around. And I still meet up with Kakashi occasionally to spar."

"Sorry."

"It's no problem. You're okay, and that's all that matters. So you get my point?"

"Yes. So, what is this jutsu of yours?"

"It's kind of like when that Lee character opens the inner gates to fuel his techniques, but without all of the nasty side effects."

"You found a way to control the inner gates better?"

Yashamaru laughed. "No. If I wasn't such a damn good medic, I probably never would have even thought of it, much less actually done it."

"Don't hold back on my account. Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back."

"Oh, I will. You see, the first time I used the technique in a match with Kakashi…"

"What?"

Yashamaru smirked evilly. "I pulled his mask off."

Gaara's jaw dropped. "No way."

"Yes way."

"What does he look like?"

"I'll never tell. Besides, he swore me to secrecy when I did it."

"Naruto and Sakura would sell their souls to find out what he looks like under the mask."

"Looks like they're going to be hanging onto them for awhile, then, because I'm not saying a word. Anyway, back to the jutsu."

"Yes."

"Basically, I use my chakra to increase the speed of the electrical signals in my nervous system. Opening the inner gates can accomplish the same thing, but since it's my own chakra the strain isn't as great. Extended use can cause the nerves to deteriorate, but I only use it in bursts to avoid that."

"And if you ever do go too far, at least you'll have a medic on hand," Gaara said sardonically.

"Indeed. I've refined it over the years, so I can fight for almost twenty minutes straight while using it without harming myself. I estimate that I could use it for maybe ten minutes more before I run out of chakra. Of course, real fights never last that long anyway, so it's not really relevant."

"So, you're going to teach me this technique?"

"Hell, no!" Yashamaru said sharply, "The jutsu is incredibly dangerous. If you put too much chakra it, it's like swallowing a bolt of lightning. And like you said, you're horrible at medical jutsu."

"Okay, calm down," Gaara said, "So if you're not going to teach it to me, why bother telling me about it at all?"

"Because," Yashamaru explained, "I'm going to be using this technique to train you to compensate for high-speed opponents. Twice, now, you've been overcome by enemies that use speed to overcome your sand barrier. When it happened, you were completely taken off your guard because you aren't used to defending yourself. Over the years, you've become totally reliant on the sand barrier as your only means of defense. It has lulled you into a false sense of security, and you get knocked right on your ass every time it fails."

Gaara winced. "Okay, okay, I get it. So, how do I defend against a high-speed opponent?"

"It's actually quite simple, especially for you. All you have to do is dodge. Think about this for a second. When you're standing still, only the fastest of opponents can bypass your sand barrier. If you start moving around as well, your opponent will not only have to hit a moving target, they'll have to hit a moving target that has an automatic shield as well."

"So all we're going to do today is have you attack me while I try to dodge?"

"No, we're going to take it one step farther than that. While you were in the academy, the teachers barred you from sparring practice because they didn't want you to harm the other students. I'm going to teach you advanced taijutsu. I might not be of the same caliber as Kakashi or Might Guy, but what I can teach you should give you a significant edge against your opponents."

"Okay. Let's get started."

For the next several hours, Yashamaru tutored Gaara on the correct stances and postures of basic taijutsu. Although he did not often utilize taijutsu, Gaara had been a good student and remembered all of his forms from the academy, even if he hardly ever used them. Most of the stances Yashamaru taught Gaara were variations of the basic ones, with minor changes to allow for greater speed and balance. Once Gaara had learned the stances, Yashamaru began to guide him through what he called _sequences_. They were, he explained, series of blocks and attacks that were linked together. Through practice, a shinobi would learn a sequence so thoroughly that they would be able to repeat it on reflex when attacked. This was superior to learning moves individually because a shinobi would be able to block and then counter instantly, instead of having to consciously move from defense to attack.

At the end of the day, Gaara felt as if he had been sat on by an elephant. He had made sure to do the entire training session with his gourd strapped to his back, because it always would be on missions. Over the years, he had become accustomed to standing, walking, running, and even climbing with the gourd weighing him down. Taijutsu, though, was not something his muscles had been trained to cope with while carrying a weight that almost matched that of Gaara's entire body. Fortuitously, the simple circulation of chakra afforded by his nightly meditation was enough to rejuvenate his stressed muscles. By the next morning, Gaara was not sore at all.

When a week had passed, Gaara was able to keep up with Yashamaru in sparring matches relatively well. His uncle's predictions had proved true. When Gaara actually attempted to defend himself while using his shield, he was all but untouchable. Using his nerve enhancement jutsu, Yashamaru was still able to land occasional hits without much effort, but _only_ while using his jutsu.

"I'm a little embarrassed," Yashamaru told Gaara on the eighth day of their training, "You've taken every lesson I learned about taijutsu in six years and mastered them in seven days."

"Well, you were outright trying to teach me," Gaara said, wiping sweat from his forehead, "And, of course, your student is a genius."

"Indeed, he is," Yashamaru agreed. Gaara would have gone red if he had not been already from the workout. "What do you say we go out to dinner tonight and celebrate?"

"You can pick," Gaara said, "Just not anyplace that serves ramen."

Yashamaru and Gaara took a leisurely walk through Konoha until they reached Yashamaru's favorite restaurant, a food stall near the hospital that served soba. They sat down on the curb next to the stall and spent several minutes eating and talking.

"I've been meaning to ask," Gaara said, "When do you have to go back to work?"

"Well, I have been working there for six years straight without taking a single sick day," Yashamaru replied, "That allowed me to accumulate a lot of vacation days and so on. I took the whole month off, plus the day of the chunin exam finals."

"That's a lot of time off."

"Yes, it's everything I had."

"You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. We don't get to hang out so often now that you're a fully fledged ninja."

"That and you want to make sure I don't bump into Father on my own again."

Yashamaru grinned, unrepentant. "Guilty."

"That works for me."

"He's still as creepy as when we left Suna."

"No kidding. He's been like that for as far back as I can remember. I don't think that's ever going to change."

Yashamaru stared contemplatively at his empty bowl. "He wasn't always like that. He used to be a good man. I was happy to have him as a brother-in-law."

Gaara gave him a sideways look. This was not a story he had heard before. "What do you mean?"

"When we were kids, your father and I were quite good friends. He met your mother from hanging out with me, in fact. He was never precisely a kind man, but he was loyal to his friends and allies, and to his village. And, of course, he was always a powerful and talented shinobi."

"What changed him then?"

Yashamaru frowned. "I'm not sure. He was a chunin during the last days of the last shinobi war. He was in this huge task force of our ninja that got sent out on a top secret mission. Even today, nobody knows what they were doing. The mission was a complete disaster. It was something like the third or fourth largest group of shinobi Suna has ever lost in one mission. Your father was the only one who returned, and that was six months later. Personally, I think he had been captured and then returned as part of post-war negotiations. It was many years before all of the repercussions hit him, though."

"What repercussions?" Gaara asked.

"It was little things at first. He would lose his temper at seemingly small provocations. Over the years, he grew increasingly cold and detached. Of course, that just made him seem like a better ninja to the people in charge at the time. He did his best to act like his old self for my sister and me. In retrospect, it was fairly obvious that it was an act, but we were so happy to have him back at the time that we convinced ourselves that he was all right."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. This all happened years before you were born. I have fond memories of the man he once was. That's enough."

"What about the man he is now?"

Yashamaru's frown darkened. "He killed my sister, implanted a demon into his own son, and tried to kill both of us. My friend died long ago, and I've gotten over it. The man he is now won't find any mercy from me."

"Hey," Gaara said suddenly, "Isn't that Temari and Kankuro?"

The two Suna-nin were walking on the opposite side of the street, towards the hospital. The two of them looked like they had been stuffed into a trashcan full of dust and rocks and then rolled down a hill. Kankuro had his arm over Temari's shoulder and was being careful to hold one of his legs completely off the ground. His sister was supporting most of his weight as he hopped along, and his face was pale underneath the purple makeup. Wherever they had come from, it had to have been slow going with Kankuro being forced to bunny hop the entire way.

Yashamaru was up and across the street in a heartbeat. Gaara debated for a moment whether or not to follow, then got up and followed his uncle. Temari and Kankuro were his siblings, after all.

"Hello, uncle," Temari said. Kankuro gave a pained nod.

"What happened?" Yashamaru asked.

"We had a training session with Father today," Kankuro ground out through clenched teeth.

"Sit down. I'll patch you up," Yashamaru instructed. Gaara unfurled some of his sand to help, but Temari and Kankuro flinched hard enough to jostle Kankuro's injured leg. Gaara hurriedly put his sand away as Yashamaru helped Temari sit Kankuro down on a bench along the side of the street. Blue light emanated from Yashamaru's hand as he used a healing jutsu on Kankuro's leg. While Yashamaru worked on Kankuro, Gaara took the opportunity to covertly study his siblings. Both of them were sweaty, dirty, and looked roughed up. This was not necessarily a bad thing; in fact they could be the signs of a good workout.

However, the object of sparring was not to wound the opponent, and Temari and Kankuro were clearly wounded. Temari had a split lip, and her left eye was swollen and black. Kankuro's leg was taking a long time to heal, which heavily implied the damage had been done to his knee rather than just some random part of his leg. Joint injuries always took more time and effort to heal due to their delicacy. There was sparring and there was having the shit kicked out of you. Temari and Kankuro looked like they fell into the latter category.

"With Father, huh?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah," Temari replied.

Yashamaru looked up at her when she spoke. He had been focused on Kankuro before, and he froze when he saw her face. Miniature lightning bolts lanced from his hand to Kankuro's leg as his anger increased his chakra flow. Kankuro yelped, more out of surprise than pain, and Yashamaru hurriedly cut back on his chakra. Then he did something Gaara didn't know he was capable of. While simultaneously keeping up the healing jutsu on Kankuro's knee, Yashamaru brought up the same jutsu in his other hand and waved it across Temari's face. Her split lip and black eye were healed in one swipe of his hand.

"Wow," Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro said in unison. Using two jutsu at the same time, even the same jutsu, took tremendous skill and a thorough knowledge of the technique's workings. To the person doing it, using two separate jutsu would be like singing a song aloud and thinking through the lyrics of a different song in a different language. Most shinobi capable of it did not bother to do it because of the huge effort and mental strain it entailed. For Yashamaru to be able to do it meant he was nothing short of an extraordinary medic. That, combined with his nerve enhancement jutsu, made Gaara wonder why the Hokage had not promoted him to jonin.

"Yes, yes, I know," Yashamaru said as he finished with Kankuro's leg, "I am amazing."

"How long have you been able to do that?" Gaara asked.

"Only for a couple of months now, and only with that jutsu. Even I have my limits." He looked at Temari and Kankuro. "Any more injuries, you two?"

"No, that's it," Temari replied, "Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks," Kankuro echoed.

"You're welcome," Yashamaru said, his voice hardening, "Where is your father now?"

"You can't do anything to him," Kankuro said hurriedly, "He's the freaking Kazekage! You'll be executed for sure even if you don't start a war!"

"Besides, he's not here anymore," Temari cut in.

"He's not?" Gaara asked in surprise.

"No, there was some business in Suna he had to take care of. He'll be gone for the rest of the month, but he'll be back by the time the final round of the exam starts."

"What happened in Suna?"

"A coup attempt, I think."

Yashamaru snorted. "I can't help but notice you say that as if it's an everyday occurrence."

"There's been one or two a year for awhile now." Kankuro explained. Temari shot him a murderous glance and elbowed him sharply in the ribs. Even before she struck, Kankuro looked aghast at what he had said. Despite the fact that they were family, Gaara and Yashamaru were shinobi of Konoha now.

"Don't worry, we won't tell anybody," Gaara assured.

"No we won't," Yashamaru agreed, "The Hokage wouldn't do anything differently even if we did tell him. He's not like that. Things are so much more different here from Suna. I wish now that I had taken you two with me as well when I took Gaara away from that place."

Temari and Kankuro remained silent, although they looked uncomfortable, unwilling to betray their father by agreeing. Gaara felt intensely sorry for them, which surprised him much as his concern for Kankuro during the preliminaries had. It seemed that despite years of atrophy, some small shred of a bond still connected him to his siblings. He wondered if it was there for them as well.

"Well," Yashamaru said, a slow grin spreading over his face, "If your father has gone back to Suna, there's no reason you couldn't come over to our place and visit for awhile, right?"

"I guess not," Kankuro said, grinning back. Temari, though, twitched and gave Gaara a quick sidelong glance. Gaara shrugged and followed Yashamaru as he led the way back to their apartment. For the rest of the night, the family from Suna caught up on the events of each other's lives. Gaara let Yashamaru do most of the talking for them, although his uncle tried to pull him into the conversation as often as possible. Gaara appreciated the sentiment, but his siblings always looked awkward when he started talking. He would have just preferred to sit back and watch. Although, by the end of the night, at least Temari and Kankuro seemed to stop expecting an attack every time Gaara moved or spoke.

The next day, when Gaara and Yashamaru stopped their training for lunch, Temari and Kankuro showed up again. They shrugged it off as another happy coincidence, but Gaara had sensed his siblings tracking them as soon as they had left the training grounds. Judging by the knowing smile Yashamaru sent Gaara's way, he knew as well. They spent the rest of the day simply walking around Konoha, seeing the sights and talking. When the sun began to set, the four retreated again to Gaara and Yashamaru's apartment, where they stayed until nearly midnight. It was when Gaara was helping Yashamaru clean up the mess that a discovery was made.

A discovery that would change his life, and the lives of those around him, forever.

"Whoops," Yashamaru said.

"What?" Gaara asked.

Yashamaru turned and hefted something in his hand. Gaara looked at it and saw that it was a Sunagakure headband.

"Looks like one of them forgot this here," Yashamaru said, "I'd better return it to them."

"I'll do it," Gaara said, "You're the one who actually needs to sleep."

Yashamaru grinned and tossed it to him. Gaara caught it in one hand and headed for the small cluster of hotels in Konoha, near the Hokage's tower. As a hidden village, only a small conglomerate of merchants and foreign ninja ever made visits. As such, not many hotels existed in the village. The ones that did usually made good business. When he reached the most expensive hotel, certainly the only one fitting for the Kazekage and his family, he paused before going in the front door. It would have been faster to scale the wall, but he did not want to be mistaken for an assassin. That would be inconvenient, not to mention that it would disturb the neighbors. So, after asking the person behind the desk about the room number, Gaara began climbing flights of stairs to reach the tenth floor of the hotel.

When he did, the stairway ended in a hallway. The hall ended in a grand doorway, leading into the only suite on the floor. Two Suna jonin stood on either side of the door. Both of them stiffened and gulped when they saw Gaara. Unlike Naruto, Gaara was notorious in his home village for the demon he hosted. Baki had been one of the best ninja in the village before Gaara had killed him. He was not surprised that the ninja from there now viewed him with something near supernatural dread. That could be useful in the future, but right now their fear meant nothing to Gaara.

He halted ten paces from the door and the shinobi, and simply traded stares with them.

"Boo," Gaara said, deadpan.

The jonin on the right scowled at him before rapping sharply on the door. A few moments later, Kankuro opened the door from the inside. His makeup and black outfit was gone, replaced by a white shirt and grey sweats. Without the makeup, he looked a lot like the Kazekage even though he had his mother's brown hair. He straightened up a bit when he saw Gaara, but that was his only other reaction.

"One of you forgot something," Gaara said.

Kankuro actually managed a smile. "She noticed right when we got home. Come on in."

"Sir?" One of the jonin asked disbelievingly.

"It's alright," Kankuro said, "He's not going to eat us."

Gaara walked past the two door guards only half expecting a kunai to impact his shield. Surprisingly, they did not even utter an obscenity as he passed. The inside of the suite did not have a single surface that was not covered by something expensive. Once the door was closed, Gaara pulled the headband out of a pocket and dangled it from his right hand.

"Heh," Kankuro said, "So that's what got Temari so worked up awhile ago. She already went to bed. I'll get her."

"Probably a good idea," Gaara said. Then, as soon as Kankuro turned and took his first step, Gaara knew something was wrong. It took him a second to realize what it was, and if he had not been focused on Temari's room he would not have noticed it. A faint, flickering presence. A trained shinobi, trying to hide himself. And he was lurking just feet away from Temari.

Gaara launched himself forward and threw every grain of sand on his back towards Temari's door.

"Kankuro!" Gaara bellowed, "Move!"

When Kankuro saw Gaara, flanked by his mass of sand, charging the door, he did not even have to be told. He threw himself out of the way, and Gaara used his sand to bring down the entire wall between him and his sister. For one brief moment, he was able to see what was inside before anyone reacted. The flickering presence turned out to be Dosu, the bandaged bastard from the preliminaries. His gauntleted fist was raised above Temari's sleeping form, poised to strike. His single visible eye widened in shock, even as Temari's snapped open.

But he did not freeze.

His fist came down like a hammer, striking Temari in the stomach. Shimmering coils of chakra-enhanced sound lanced out of the holes in his gauntlet. This time, instead of heading for the ears, the sound waves converged on the exact spot Dosu had hit. Sound waves with a frequency so high they were almost solid vanished into Temari's guts, tearing her insides to shreds. Temari let out an inhuman shriek of agony and curled into a ball, the agony so intense that she could not have resisted the impulse to curl up if she had wanted to.

Gaara's vision tunneled even as it turned red.

Sand lashed out with his will and shattered the gauntlet around Dosu's right forearm, breaking the limb beneath it for good measure. More sand wrapped itself around Dosu's other hand, his knees, his throat, and drove him into the wall next to the open window he had come in through. All of the sand except for that around his neck contracted violently, snapping bones and tendons. The Sound-nin let out a bellow of agony as his limbs were shattered. Gaara stalked toward his enemy, put his nose an inch away from his enemy's bandaged one, stared into his eye and asked a question.

"Why?"

"I must defeat Sasuke," Dosu whispered.

Hayate had shown them the tournament roster before the end of the preliminaries. Temari was scheduled to fight against Shikamaru in the first round, and whoever won that match would fight Dosu in the second. Dosu wanted to increase his chances of reaching Sasuke by killing off his opponents early. Gaara processed this for a full three seconds before he made his next move.

He removed the sand from around Dosu's neck and condensed it into a lumpy, fist-sized mass. Then, he drove it through the bandages over Dosu's mouth, breaking several of his captive's teeth in the process. When Dosu opened his mouth to scream, Gaara sent the sand down his throat, into his stomach, and then through his stomach to wrap his heart in a grip of sand. He gave the failed assassin a split second to realize death was coming before he ripped his heart free of its moorings with one savage twist. The corpse fell limply to the floor when Gaara let it go.

"Gaara!" Kankuro shouted. He was cradling his older sister in his arms. Her screaming had graduated to gurgling as blood leaked out of the corners of her mouth. She had thrown up into Kankuro's lap while he held her. He seemed not to notice. "She'll bleed out!"

If someone didn't get her to the hospital in about fifty seconds.

"Give her to me!" Gaara shouted, sending some sand to wrap her in a protective cocoon.

For one frozen, horrible moment, Gaara saw Kankuro consider refusing his help. Old habits die hard, after all. Temari needed every microsecond they could give her, and Kankuro's resistance might mean her death. Of course, he knew that too.

"Take her!" he shouted, allowing the sand to scoop her up. Even as it did, Gaara used the rest to blow out the wall he had held Dosu against, gathered himself up in a loose grip, and then threw himself out into the night air. But he did not fall, not tonight. For the first time in his life, Gaara flew. He rocketed across the city towards the hospital, covering the distance in a fraction of the time he could have managed hopping rooftops. He barely managed to slow down enough not to shatter the hospital's glass doors, and even so he arrived in the front lobby in a hurricane of wind, sand, and Temari's blood.

"Medic!" Gaara bellowed to the room at large. Most civilian doctors probably would have just stared in shock at a redheaded child standing in a miasma of bloodstained sand, holding a limp young woman in his arms. Fortunately, medic-nin were a little more jaded, and half a dozen of them took Temari within seconds of Gaara's arrival, their hands bathing her in multicolored lights. Gaara followed them until they entered the operating room, at which point an orderly, who must have been either extraordinarily brave or extraordinarily stupid considering the look on Gaara's face, put a hand on his shoulder and guided him to a waiting room. Except for Gaara, the room was empty when the orderly left.

Gaara sagged into a chair and threw his sand into a heap in a corner of the room. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he was just tired and scared. He hated hospital waiting rooms. They were always too bright and sterile, lacking any kind of life or warmth. An empty one was even worse. At least he would not have to suffer alone for long. Kankuro would be along as soon as he told those door guards what had happened, and if Yashamaru had sensed his chakra he would probably be here even faster.

For precisely three-hundred and forty-five seconds, Gaara sat alone in the waiting room counting every second that passed to distract himself from his fear for Temari. Then Yashamaru burst into the room looking like he was ready to take someone's head off.

"Are you okay?" He asked urgently.

"I'm fine," Gaara said, "Temari isn't. One of the other genin from the exam tried to assassinate her."

"Who was it?"

"Some bandaged guy from Sound named Dosu."

"How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad. I fought him in the Forest of Death. He generates sound with this gauntlet and uses chakra to amplify it and direct it. During my fight he tried to hit my ears, but he hit Temari in the stomach with it."

"How was she before they took her away? What kind of symptoms did she have?"

Gaara thought for a moment before answering. "She was having trouble breathing and blood was coming out of her mouth."

"Was she making odd sounds when she was breathing?"

"Yeah, like she had to clear her throat. That means her lungs were damaged, doesn't it?"

"Almost certainly. How long did it take you to get her here after she was injured?"

"It couldn't have been much more than a minute and a half, more or less."

Yashamaru sat down next to Gaara. "That's good, if you were that fast there shouldn't be any brain damage from oxygen deprivation. Where's Kankuro, by the way?"

"He'll be here soon enough, I would imagine."

"You're damn right I will be," Kankuro said as he landed on the floor. He had snuck into the hospital through the crawlspace in the ceiling.

"Son of a _bitch_, Kankuro," Gaara breathed. He had just barely restrained himself from blasting his brother through the wall.

"Sorry, I figured if I came through the front door they'd want me to fill out paperwork or something. I just thought it'd be faster to sneak in."

"That is the protocol," Yashamaru said with a faint grin, "But we doctors are human beings, you know. If you had taken two minutes to explain, they would have let you through."

"Two minutes?" Kankuro said, bemused, "Who the hell can wait that long? But that doesn't matter anyway, where the hell is Temari?"

"She's in surgery," Gaara said, "That's all we know."

"Father is going to be _so_ angry…"

Kankuro plopped down in a seat on the other side of Yashamaru and buried his face in his hands. Yashamaru put a comforting hand on his back. Time passed, only a few hours, but they seemed exceptionally long to Gaara. The bright white walls of the waiting room started to give him a headache, and Gaara rubbed his palms against his closed eyes. It was a relief when, at long last, a medic-nin walked through the door. Gaara, Yashamaru, and Kankuro jumped to their feet in unison. It was four thirty in the morning; four hours after Temari had been brought into the hospital.

"It was a near thing, I've got to tell you," he said, "But she'll make it."

Kankuro let out a mad whoop of glee. Gaara and Yashamaru fell back in their chairs.

"Where is she?" Gaara asked.

"She's being moved to the recovery ward right now," the medic replied, "You can see her if you like, but she won't be awake for awhile."

"Thank you," Yashamaru said, "Thank you so much."

"Not at all. You work here, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Room three-oh-one."

"Thank you."

The three of them walked swiftly through the hospital until they reached Temari's room. Being the daughter of a foreign dignitary, she had been given a private room to recover in. True to the medic's word, Temari was asleep. An EKG beeped in the corner. Word had apparently spread about the attack, because two Konoha ANBU stood outside the door and two more stood in corners of the room. Kankuro pulled the only chair in the room beside Temari's bed and flopped down in it, Gaara and Yashamaru standing on either side of him. For almost two hours, the three simply remained at Temari's bedside, just watching her breathe.

"Now I can't wait for the exams to start up again," Kankuro said abruptly.

"Why's that?" Yashamaru asked.

"Because I really, _really_ want to hit something," Kankuro replied.

Gaara, although he kept it to himself, agreed.

* * *

The next chapter kicks off the chunin exams. Please review!


	15. Irresistable Force and Immovable Objects

Holy crap, it has been a long time since my last update. I've been working on this chapter on and off for nearly a year, and I finally finished it. What can I say, college can be a little time consuming. Unfortunately, the next (and last) chapter will probably take just as much time. So keep this story in the back of your mind, but don't check it anytime soon.

I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, so on and so forth.

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Irresistable Forces and Immovable Objects**

Temari was released from the hospital five days later. Gaara and Yashamaru were unable to visit her because the Kazekage returned the day after she was attacked, and point blank forbade anyone to enter her room. Most would have thought that it was the behavior of a concerned parent, but Gaara knew better. Temari belonged to _him,_ and nobody harmed what was his. Of course, with his father back, Kankuro was unable to make any more visits. He turned up about a week after the attack to deliver Temari's thanks to Gaara. That was the last Gaara would see of his siblings in the month preceding the chunin exam finals. He and Yashamaru spent the rest of the month either training or relaxing as the mood struck them.

Naruto returned on the day before the finals were to start…on the back of a giant toad accompanied by Jiraiya.

"I can't believe you call him _pervy-sage_!" Gaara hissed, "Do you have any idea who he is?"

"Sure I do," Naruto replied easily, "He's a sage, and he's a pervert. So: per-vee-say-juh."

"Naruto, half of our history lessons at the academy revolved around him and his team! He's one of the Sannin, for crying out loud!"

"Doesn't change the fact that he's a pervy-sage."

"I could cry right now. I just want you to know that."

"I'll give him this, though: the old man knows his jutsu. You wouldn't believe some of the tricks he taught me."

"Such as?"

Naruto grinned. "You'll see tomorrow. How about you? What have you been up to?"

Gaara told Naruto about the assassination attempt against his sister and his training with Yashamaru. He skipped over his experiments with his sand, though. If Naruto wanted to have surprises, then Gaara wanted some too.

"Damn," Naruto said.

"I know," Gaara said.

"Well, at least you've made nice with your brother and sister now."

"I'm not sure that's really a good thing."

Naruto frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Before, they thought I was dead and I didn't think about them at all. Now that we're friends, or at least not enemies anymore, what happens when they go back to Suna?"

"Oh. I hadn't thought of it like that."

"And it's not only the distance that bothers me. When they go back, they'll be with my father. You saw him in the alley. That's how he is twenty-four-seven. It's a miracle he hasn't turned them into sociopaths already, but if they stay with him forever he'll destroy them."

Naruto whistled. "Sounds like you really need to hit something."

Gaara heaved a sigh. "Damn straight."

"I'm glad you're paired up with Sasuke, then," Naruto said cheerfully.

"You seem awfully cheerful considering your opponent."

Naruto's grin took on a forced edge, making it into more of a grimace.

"Oh, I'm just imagining what I'm going to do to Neji tomorrow."

"That's…somewhat disturbing."

"You must be rubbing off on me then."

"Oh, that stung."

"Ha," Naruto said, "I'm going home. Big day tomorrow. I need to rest up."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

* * *

Gaara and Naruto walked silently towards the stadium where the finals would take place. The blonde genin was being unusually silent today, and he seemed more focused and still than Gaara could ever remember him being. Whatever training Jiraiya had put him through must have really had an effect.

Surprisingly, Sasuke joined the two of them halfway through their walk. The Uchiha prodigy gave brief nods to his teammates before facing forward with his usual stoic silence.

The three genin were not the first ones to arrive in the stadium. Gaara's siblings were already there. They glanced at him briefly, but did not otherwise react. Of course, Gaara could feel the Kazekage's eyes boring into him, so he understood their discretion.

One by one, the other competitors joined those already gathered, until they formed a neat line facing the audience. It seemed that the whole of the village had crammed itself into the stadium, and every last one of them was cheering at the top of their lungs. Near the Hokage's seat, a few dozen brightly dressed nobles had their own private box and were surveying the young shinobi as if they were racehorses about to be auctioned off.

"Where's that Dosu guy?" Shikamaru asked.

"Perhaps he isn't feeling well," Gaara said.

Kankuro and Naruto snickered.

The proctor for the finals was not Hayate. This man was blonde, and he chewed a senbon as if it were a piece of straw.

"The first match," he said, "is between Neji Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki. Everyone else, please go up to the observation deck and wait your turn."

Gaara clasped Naruto's shoulder and squeezed it tightly. "Good luck."

Naruto smiled warmly in response. "Thanks."

As he walked away, Gaara could see that Naruto was totally calm as he squared off against Neji. His training must have had more of an impact than Gaara had originally thought.

* * *

Naruto stared hard at Neji as the rest of the genin left the arena. Gaara paused and gave Naruto a final nod, which he returned. It was funny. He had been expecting to be angry when he finally faced Neji again. But now he felt cool, calm, collected.

Ready.

"Do you have anything to say?" Neji asked, mock respectfully, like an executioner talking to a prisoner on the chopping block.

"We can talk after," Naruto said, "I came here for a fight."

Neji charged at Naruto in a blatant frontal assault. He was fast, _so damn fast_, but Naruto could see him. Barely. He crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, and a flesh colored blur dominated Naruto's vision as Neji's palm rocketed toward his face in a blow that a month previous would have taken his head clean off.

But not today.

Naruto slapped the side of Neji's forearm with one hand, sending the Hyuga's strike whistling past his cheek. Neji had presumed that he could defeat Naruto in one blindingly fast blow. Instead, his momentum carried him forward faster than he could stop, so that Naruto's head butt caught him square on the nose. Neji staggered back clutching at his face, blood seeping out between his fingers. His nose was broken. He snarled at Naruto, hatred burning in his pale eyes.

If he had been expecting a response, he was disappointed. Naruto stared at him, blank-faced and calm, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I said I came here for a fight," Naruto said in a bored voice, "If you want to play tag, wait until later. Too many big-wigs watching us to play games, don't you think?"

Neji's glower was replaced by a blank expression to match Naruto's. "May I ask you something?"

"Depends."

"A month ago, during the preliminaries…why were you so angry after my match?"

"You know damn well why," Naruto growled.

"Allow me to rephrase, then: why do you care? Hinata is not a member of your clan. As far as I know, you are not even close friends. What concern is it of yours what happens to her?"

Naruto frowned. "You really don't understand, do you?"

"No."

"If you had just defeated her in the match, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. It would have been a bummer if Hinata had just lost, but that's all. You crossed a line. You tore into her from the get-go. And when you knew that she couldn't win, when we _all_ knew she couldn't win, you didn't hold back. She's your family, and you tried to kill her."

"But why do you care about that? Why does her fate matter to you?"

"Because she _tried_! She fought with everything she had, and you all but spat on her. You did your best to make her feel like nothing, to convince her that she'd always _be_ nothing."

"She will."

Now Naruto felt angry. "What?"

"What happened to Hinata was as much her doing as it was mine. She could have stopped, but she refused to accept her fate. From the moment we were paired up against each other, she was destined to lose, just as you are destined to lose right now."

"You believe in fate? You struck me as more of a cold, calculating bastard type than a fortune teller."

"Mock all you want; it doesn't hide your ignorance. I know how this world works. Each and every one of us is inescapably bound by our own fate. We can fight it, we can hate it, but we can never change it. I understand your empathy with Hinata now. She is a failure, just like you. You cannot accept her loss, just as you refuse to accept that you will lose now. Once a failure, always a failure."

Naruto pulled his lips back from his teeth. His canines had lengthened into fangs. "Shut up and fight."

This time it was Naruto who charged at Neji. He closed the distance between them and threw his right fist at Neji's face. Neji launched himself backwards, lifted both of his feet from the ground and planted them firmly in Naruto's gut. The blonde had seen the blow coming, though, and rolled with the hit, somersaulting in midair and landing in a balanced crouch. The instant his feet touched the ground, Naruto threw himself to the side. He felt Neji's follow-up strike brush one of his pant legs, barely missing him as he sprang into a cartwheel. Naruto gave ground, backpedaling madly to build distance between himself and his opponent. Neji pursued him mercilessly, throwing gentle fist blows every time Naruto paused for even an instant. Naruto just barely managed to stay ahead with a series of acrobatic flips and rolls, but still every strike brushed his clothing or hair. A glancing shot hit his ankle, and tingling numbness consumed Naruto's foot and shot up his calf. He lost his footing, and Neji descended on him with a vengeance.

Neji's fist crunched into Naruto's left cheekbone. He struck Naruto's thigh with a sharp chop, bloodied his nose with an elbow strike, and bashed him square in the sternum with both hands, cutting off nearly all of Naruto's chakra. Naruto flopped onto the ground as his entire body went numb and shaky. He felt as if all of his strength and chakra had left him at once. Naruto struggled to stand anyway, and after a few moments managed to regain his feet even though it felt like glue had been poured into his muscles. Neji stared at him perplexedly, a mild frown creasing his brow.

"Why bother standing?" He asked, "Why get back up? You can't use chakra anymore, you can barely even stand. It is pointless."

"Blah blah blah," Naruto said thickly. He could barely feel his tongue.

"Why do you do this?"

Deep inside his mind, Naruto could feel a stirring, a subtle shifting of energy. A voice spoke to him, deep and resonant, as if each word were a clap of thunder.

_**Foolish child. Must you always involve yourself in conflicts you know you cannot win? This is not the battle I warned you of, but I shall lend you power all the same. Useless brat…**_

Naruto felt as if a bomb had gone off in his chest. His blood had been replaced with fire. His own heartbeat sounded like cannon fire to his ears. The world seemed to crystallize around Naruto; no detail escaped his gaze. He could see every speck of dirt and blood on Neji's clothing, every line and shadow on his face. Every muscle in Naruto's body hummed with strength. The numbness Neji had inflicted on him was gone, evaporated like morning dew in the face of the noontime sun. Red chakra formed a sheath of crimson flame around Naruto, causing Neji to flinch violently away.

"Why?" Naruto asked, reiterating Neji's question. He met the Hyuga's pale eyes. In them he saw shock, and not a little fear. "Fuck you, that's why."

Neji stared at Naruto warily. He was squinting, as if a bright light was being shined into his eyes. Naruto supposed that was the result of his Byakugan being able to see his chakra. For the first time, it appeared that Neji was finally viewing him as a threat instead of a bug to be squashed. Without warning, the Hyuga rushed at him, hand thrust forward, trying to cut off Naruto's massive chakra supply before he had a chance to use it.

Naruto grabbed Neji's wrist, and in one fluid motion he kicked Neji's legs out from under him, whipped him up and over his head, and slammed him into the ground. Before he could recover, Naruto launched a kick at Neji's ribs in the hopes of breaking them, immobilizing him and ending the match. Neji saw the kick coming, though, and spun. At first, Naruto thought he was trying to roll away. Then blue energy appeared around the Hyuga's body, and his rotation increased in speed until he was spinning like a top. The energy Neji had surrounded himself with made it seem as if he was a solid ball of crackling chakra. When his attack connected, it felt to Naruto as if he had kicked a ball of oiled ice. His foot slipped out from underneath him, and Neji leapt at the opening.

Using the momentum from his spin, Neji drove his stiffened fingers into the base of Naruto's spine. Instead of going through the energy surrounding Naruto, Neji's attack only caused a hole the size of his fist to appear in Naruto's crimson aura. Neji's surprise gave Naruto the instant he required to recover. The blonde executed a backward flip in midair and kicked Neji on the point of his chin. The Hyuga's teeth clacked together as his feet left the ground. Naruto drove his left fist into Neji's exposed stomach, leaning into the punch so that Neji was folded over his shoulder. With a twist of his shoulder, Naruto tossed Neji onto the ground behind him. The Hyuga prodigy flopped onto his back and did not stand up. The older boy was clearly defeated.

As the danger passed, Naruto could feel the Kyuubi's chakra fade away. Despite the intense combat, he did not feel tired. He felt relaxed and invigorated. He walked over to Neji and nudged him with his foot. He had blacked out. The Hyuga groaned as he woke up. His forehead protector had been knocked off, and a black mark was visible on his forehead. It looked like a tattoo of some kind.

"I lost," Neji said. His voice was flat.

"Looks that way," Naruto said without malice.

"I failed."

"You asked me why I was fighting, and I answered you."

"Yes."

"I think it's only fair that you return the favor. Why are you so obsessed with fate? Why were you so hard on Hinata?"

"Do you see this mark on my forehead?"

"Yes."

Neji concisely told Naruto about the recent history of the Hyuga clan. How the cadet branch was made to serve and protect the main branch. Hinata's kidnapping at the hands of a visiting envoy, and how Neji's father was sacrificed to save his uncle. How the curse seal on his forehead had bound his fate, and his father's, and directed the course of their lives.

"After my father died," Neji whispered, "I swore to myself that I would become the best shinobi I could be, to humiliate the main branch. To surpass them. To punish them for what they did to my father."

"You're an idiot."

"What!?"

"You let those 'all-seeing' eyes of yours be blinded by your pain. You think that you're the only one suffering? Hinata has suffered just as much as you have, for different reasons. You're smart, I'll give you that, but you aren't unique. You are alone, and that is you own doing and nobody else's."

"What do you know about it? You can't possibly know what it's like to have the course of your entire life determined by something forced upon you; that is completely out of your control!"

Naruto snorted. "You don't know me any better than I know you, so don't make assumptions about the way I've lived. Everyone has burdens they have to bear, some are heavier than others. Only a few are completely alone. Do you know why? Because those people have allowed their burdens to consume them, and driven everyone else away. Most people reach out to each other because of their burdens, and the bonds they form make them strong enough to keep moving forward. You have refused to form bonds with anyone, and that is why I beat you today. The bonds I share with other people make me stronger than I could ever become on my own. That's why a failure with friends can, and will, beat a genius who stands alone."

* * *

Gaara smiled fiercely as the crowd roared in approval at Naruto's victory. He was too far away to hear what his friend had said to Neji, but the defeated genin looked confused. It seemed that, once again, Naruto had changed his opponent's outlook in addition to ringing their bells.

Once the noise had quieted to a dull roar, the proctor announced, "The next match is between Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara."

The two teammates descended the stairs to the arena floor. Gaara could see several of the nobles whispering to each other, no doubt excited about the last of the Uchiha clan fighting the Kazekage's exiled son.

Gaara and Sasuke gave each other respectful nods. The Uchiha sank into a fighting crouch, and his eyes widened when Gaara assumed a similar pose. The audience fell silent, holding its collective breath, not daring to upset the balance of such an anticipated match.

"Begin!" the proctor barked.

Sasuke's hand darted down to his weapon pouch and withdrew three shuriken. Gaara had left the cork to his gourd on the observation deck, leaving his sand an open avenue to escape its container and block the thrown weapons. Both combatants were grinning. Sasuke's opening salvo had been little more than a formality, like moving a pawn as the opening move in a game of shogi; it had to be done before the players could get down to business.

In retaliation, Gaara gestured sharply with two fingers. A stream of highly pressurized sand shot forward at the other genin. Sasuke easily tumbled out of the way. Seamlessly, Gaara formed the sand into a ring around his teammate and tightened it ruthlessly, trying to catch Sasuke in its crushing grip. The Uchiha launched himself into the air and expelled one of his signature fireball jutsu at Gaara's head. Gaara went down on one knee and raised one forearm in a high block. A dome of sand formed over his arm, and the fireball glanced off, impacting the ground behind Gaara and sending a burst of heated dust against his back.

Sasuke landed gracefully and smirked. Gaara grinned back amicably and pointed at a spot just over the Uchiha's left shoulder. Frowning, Sasuke looked behind himself to see a sand clone of Gaara charging at his back. Eyes widening, Sasuke performed a spinning kick so fast that Gaara thought he could feel the wind even from nearly twenty feet away. The attack took his clone's head off, and a succession of similar blows amputated the arms and ripped the torso in half at the waist. Gaara started to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Sasuke had never moved nearly as fast as he just had, and as he had straightened up, Gaara thought that his posture had been highly reminiscent of Lee's attack stance.

When the Uchiha turned back toward Gaara, he had activated his Sharingan. Originally, Gaara had thought that his match would be an easy victory. Sasuke was undoubtedly a skilled shinobi, but none of his jutsu were powerful enough to overcome Gaara's sand shield. Unfortunately, it appeared that between his own fight with Lee and observing Gaara's match with him, Sasuke had been given ample opportunity to use his kekkei genkai to copy the older genin's moves, and had used his month of freedom to gain the speed necessary to use them.

However, Sasuke was not the only one whose taijutsu had improved.

Using a trick he had developed while sparring with Yashamaru, Gaara stared hard at Sasuke's feet. No matter how fast the opponent was, their feet would always indicate not only when they would move, but often in which direction they intended to go.

The instant Sasuke took his first step, Gaara began his maneuver. Gripping the sash that held his gourd on his back, Gaara pulled the cloth over his head, spun in place, and swung it as hard as he could at the space that had previously been behind him. Sasuke, despite his Sharingan-enhanced sight, was unable to overcome his momentum, and the sand gourd smashed into his side and sent him sprawling to the ground.

Gaara smirked as the Uchiha rolled away. Because Shukaku's senses were at least partially tied into Gaara's own, the sand shield always responded more quickly to attacks that happened within his field of vision. It was a pattern that melee fighters seemed to spot fairly easily, and one that only high-speed fighters like Haku, Lee, and Yashamaru were able to exploit. All three had charged at Gaara's front to activate his defenses, and then whipped around behind him faster than the sand could keep up. It was only after his training with Yashamaru that Gaara had realized the pattern his enemies had fallen into, and had devised a plan to take advantage of it.

Sasuke rolled to his feet and resumed his taijutsu stance. The arrogance was gone from his face. Gaara decided that with his opponent's offense ground to a standstill, it was time to go on the attack himself.

Still griping his gourd by its sash, Gaara whipped his hands up and let the sand container fly into the air. Curling his fingers so that his hands resembled claws, Gaara sharply dropped his arms so that they were parallel to the ground, releasing a large spike of chakra. The gourd detonated like a giant-sized smoke bomb, filling the air with sand and momentarily submerging the two combatants in shadow. Gaara slashed his hands downward, and the sand plummeted toward the ground to crush Sasuke beneath it.

Gaara's vision was momentarily obscured by a tremendous cloud of dust as his sand impacted against the ground. When it settled, he could see Sasuke crouching on the ground halfway across the arena. The other genin was down on one knee. Gaara did not know if he had taken a glancing blow or if he had simply been knocked over by the blast of air generated by his sand crashing into the earth. What he did know was that his opponent was completely immobile. Summoning up a wave of sand beneath his feet, Gaara began to glide across the ground, gathering up another mass of it behind his right shoulder to slam into the Uchiha like a wrecking ball.

Gaara was towering over Sasuke, an instant away from striking, when Sasuke attacked first.

The attack happened so fast that Gaara could not fully comprehend it. One minute Sasuke was kneeling at Gaara's feet, staring at his hand as if he had a broken wrist. The next, he was lunging at Gaara with one arm extended. There was a flash of bluish-white light, the stench of ozone, and the most unusual sound Gaara had ever heard. It was like an entire menagerie of birds chirping at the same time. He felt Sasuke's hand press against him…

And Gaara's right shoulder exploded in pain.

Gaara supposed that under ordinary circumstances, it would have hurt to have his shoulder blades hit the ground so hard without his sand to cushion it. These were not ordinary circumstances. It felt like someone was trying to rip a chunk out of his shoulder with pliers made out of molten lead. He did not dare look at the wound. He was out of breath, but it hurt too much to inhale. He could feel Shukaku trying to break free. The demon was feeding on its host's weakness, but Gaara stubbornly clung to consciousness. It would be a near thing, but if he could hold on until the medics got to him, Gaara could win.

Something fluttered at the edge of Gaara's vision. He narrowed his eyes and looked harder. It was a feather fluttering in the wind. No, _two_ feathers. Then three. The sky was suddenly full of feathers, twisting gracefully through the air. It was mesmerizing to watch them.

Gaara's eyelids felt heavy. His shoulder suddenly did not bother him as much, painful instead of agonizing. His limbs felt like they were filled with lead.

He was falling asleep!

The last thing to go through Gaara's mind before he succumbed to his exhaustion was a single word, and even though it was being bellowed throughout his mind he could not make it out.

* * *

Sasuke winced as he looked at the bleeding crater in Gaara's shoulder. He had tried to cut back on the force of his jutsu, but apparently he had not done well enough. He felt bad that he had caused such a grievous injury to a teammate. Still, it was not a fatal wound, and he had won his match with plenty of energy left over for his following bouts. He was satisfied.

Then he glanced around in confusion. The Sharingan allowed Sasuke to see chakra as color. Gentle indigo waves permeated the air around the stadium like a tinted heat shimmer. Sasuke had seen it once or twice before. It was a common result of a wide-range genjutsu.

Sasuke looked at Gaara. The other genin was still on the ground. He had even stopped moving, and appeared to have fallen unconscious.

And then the other genin was on his feet, his arms stretched up over his head. Sasuke was sent flying backward by a shockwave as Gaara roared louder than it should have been possible for a human being to shout. As he skidded to a halt, Sasuke could see flames of chakra, similar to those that had covered Naruto, enshrouding Gaara. Unlike Naruto's aura, this chakra was gold instead of red. Even at a distance, Gaara's voice was so loud that Sasuke had to cover his ears. Several painful seconds later, as Gaara's voice began to trail off, Sasuke could understand what he was saying.

Gaara was jubilantly, triumphantly shouting one word, "**FRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**"

* * *

Orochimaru smiled as he surveyed the shattered front gates of Konoha. Two of his largest snakes had shattered the doors, killing the guards and smashing several buildings just inside the walls. He was holding three more in reserve, hidden in the trees along with three-quarters of his Otogakure jonin. The former Sannin was disappointed that he could not see the look on Sarutobi's face as he died, but ultimately the Hokage was only one man. The pleasure of his demise could not compare to the spectacle of the destruction of an entire village.

The Konoha shinobi Orochimaru had sensed waiting in ambush leapt out of windows and charged out of alleyways to attack the giant serpents. The shinobi threw volleys of kunai and launched streams of fire from their mouths. The snakes only bothered to stop some of the more well-aimed attacks from hitting them in their eyes, relying on their thick scales to protect them from harm. Two shinobi were lost to the jaws of one of the snakes, and six more were swatted aside from the sweeping tail of the other. Grinning smugly, Orochimaru made a casual waving gesture over his shoulder.

Dozens of Otogakure jonin sprinted past their leader to enter Konoha through the newly created breach in the wall. Once inside the city, they scaled the nearest buildings in an effort to outflank the Konoha shinobi who were caught in the open. Even including the ones who had been killed by the snakes, the village defenders were outnumbered at least three-to-one.

Orochimaru's view of the battle was abruptly cut off by a sudden explosion of dust and grit. When the debris settled back to the ground, he saw two enormous toads the size of small hillocks pinning his snakes to the ground. One of the toads was forest green with swirling black lines around its eyes, and it held a long dagger in each hand. The other was the more common shade of orange and was carrying a spear that was as long as its body was tall. Each one had pinioned a snake's head to the ground with their weapons, causing the two serpents to disappear in puffs of smoke.

The smile slid off of Orochimaru's face as he watched a dozen more toads, these only the size of large horses, bound onto the rooftops and start cutting through his troops. The amphibians shot thick gouts of water and oil from their mouths, knocking the Oto-nin back onto the streets. Those who were soaked in oil were immediately set ablaze by fire jutsu from the Konoha shinobi.

Over the screams of the dying and the din of battle, Orochimaru could hear faint laughter. Not faint from any attempt to stifle it, but faint due to distance. Looking up at the top of the wall, Orochimaru saw a tall man with a long mane of white hair staring directly at him, chuckling in amusement. It was his former teammate, the Toad Sage Jiraiya.

"Hello there, Orochimaru!" Jiraiya called down.

"Jiraiya," Orochimaru responded with amused contempt.

"You just can't resist stirring up trouble these days, can you?"

"It's a personal flaw, I will admit," Orochimaru said. He casually stepped onto the head of one of his reserve snakes and led the rest of his troops forward toward the gates. "Somewhat like looking in on the ladies' bathhouse, I think."

"Don't compare my research to anything you might do!"

Jiraiya performed a backward dive and landed gracefully on the head of the green-skinned toad.

"Hey, Gamashin!" he called over his shoulder.

"Yeah?" one of the smaller toads shouted back.

"Round up your brothers and head on back to Myobokuzan. Tell your pa that Jiraiya-chan needs a little help."

"You got it!"

The smaller toads all disappeared in puffs of smoke, only to be replaced a heartbeat later by another toad even bigger than the two that had killed Orochimaru's snakes. This one was a shade of orange so dark he was almost red. A white scar ran from the corner of his mouth to his left shoulder, and a scimitar was belted to his waist.

"Jiraiya-chan," the toad rumbled, "Whatever you called me for, it had better go more smoothly than the last time."

"Oh, don't be so sensitive, Gamatatso. If you asked me-"

"I didn't."

"-that scar makes you look really distinguished."

"Whatever," Gamatatso growled, drawing his sword, "Let's just make this a quick one, okay?"

* * *

The Third Hokage watched as the arena descended into chaos. Jonin from Konoha, Suna, and Otogakure flashed around the seating area as they fought. Although he could tell that those of his village were trying to minimize civilian casualties, their efforts were not enough. Countless dozens were engulfed by rogue fireballs, crushed by chunks of earth, or stabbed by deflected kunai and shuriken. The entire scene quickly devolved into a bloodbath, and in the exact center of it, Gaara was giving off massive waves of demonic chakra as he lost control of the beast within him.

Sarutobi turned his head to look at the Kazekage, only to find that his fellow village leader was already staring right at him. His eyes were as they had been for as long as Sarutobi had known him: blank, soulless, lacking any kind of emotion that could be read.

"It has come to this, has it?" Sarutobi asked sadly.

"It has," the Kazekage replied.

Sarutobi leapt sideways out of his chair. Before his bodyguards or the Kazekage's could react, he rapidly formed a sequence of hand seals and issued a stream of fire from his mouth. The Kazekage's reaction was immediate. He chopped sharply at shoulder level, and a concentrated blast of air split Sarutobi's fire attack in two. The pair of shuriken Sarutobi had concealed within the flames were deflected away from the Kazekage, but they did strike his bodyguards in the neck. The two fell gurgling to the ground in the same instant that the Hokage's bodyguards fell backward. Sarutobi looked at the two jonin with surprise. Each of them had a perfectly round hole in their forehead protectors, as if a surgical drill had been pressed into their skulls.

The Kazekage casually rose from his chair and removed his kage uniform. Underneath his white robes, he wore only a long sleeved mesh shirt with a short sleeved black shirt and black pants. With his face revealed, Sarutobi was struck by how much the Kazekage looked like an older version of Gaara.

"Surely there is some way that we can negotiate a truce," Sarutobi said, shucking his own robes to reveal his black bodysuit and helmet.

"No," the Kazekage replied, "This war is necessary."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Lord Hokage, not all hidden villages are as prosperous as yours. Konoha has been lucky since the conclusion of the last great shinobi war. Suna has not. Your offices are flooded with missions while ours nearly run dry. This lack of revenue has caused our daimyo to order a military downsizing that has robbed my shinobi of their jobs. While your village swells and prospers, my people starve in the streets!"

"I know of your troubles," Sarutobi said grimly, "But there are other solutions than this. If you had asked, Konoha would have gladly shared missions with you and your village."

"Do not preach to me. A client that is directed elsewhere is a client that does not return a second time. I have no doubt that you would have diverted a fair amount of small-time, low ranking missions to Suna if we had asked for aid. But you would not have given up the higher ranking missions that truly provide sustenance for a hidden village; you could not afford to do so. Do not pretend this is not the truth."

"We would have found a way to help you!" Sarutobi shouted angrily as he watched the battle in the arena increase in ferocity, "For pity's sake, Lord Kazekage, those are women and children dying down there!"

"Yes, they die silently and painlessly in their sleep while mine fade away to nothing over years! Face it, Lord Hokage, our two villages are too large to coexist. We both require too many resources to live. One of us has to die. I say that Suna has suffered long enough, and that if one of us has to go that it be Konoha that finally takes a turn suffering!"

"Is this really only a matter of economics, or do you still harbor that same grudge against Konoha for what happened at the end of the last war?"

"_That_ is not the reason," the Kazekage said levelly. Then a smile split his face. "Although it is a perk, I will admit."

"Damn you," Sarutobi said exasperatedly, "We have been over this before. The shinobi that killed your unit and captured you were not acting under Konoha's directive! They were stripped of their rank and executed as soon as we were able to find them!"

"Yes!" the Kazekage snarled, "How convenient! The criminals are caught and punished, but only _after_ the best and brightest amongst your rival's military have been killed!"

"I have never operated in that manner, nor have my predecessors," Sarutobi said stonily.

"Oh, of course. Other, lesser beings may resort to such tactics, but not the saintly shinobi of Konoha! I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now! You and your people have taken everything from me. _Everything_! I was powerless to stop you when I was a child, but I'm all grown up now. _And I want it all back_!"

It was obvious that the Kazekage had completely lost his cool. Until now his face had been composed, but now his eyes were bulging out of their sockets and his mouth was locked in a snarl. Sarutobi realized that his younger colleague had suffered trauma far greater than he had originally let on. He was beyond reasoning, which left him only one option.

Sarutobi drew a shuriken and threw it at the Kazekage. While the projectile was still in the air, the Hokage formed a hand seal and expended a small amount of chakra. In a flurry of smoke puffs, two dozen more shuriken appeared out of nowhere. All of them were aimed directly at the Kazekage.

The younger shinobi snorted derisively. With an upward swipe of his hand, the Kazekage generated a nearly solid wall of wind in front of himself. The shuriken all bounced off, but Sarutobi was already preparing his next jutsu. Inhaling deeply, the aged Hokage expelled a stream of white hot flame from his mouth. When it impacted against the Kazekage's shield, the combination of wind and fire chakra caused a massive explosion. Sarutobi had jumped well before the jutsu had collided, and he simply used the shockwave to leap onto the arena roof. The Kazekage stood a few dozen paces away, looking none the worse for being in the epicenter of a firestorm.

"You cannot possibly win," Sarutobi said, "It is true that you are renowned for your mastery of wind jutsu, but we both know that my fire style techniques will overwhelm yours every time."

"Don't be so sure," the Kazekage said. He slashed at the air with one hand, and a blade of wind the size of a small tree hurtled at Sarutobi. The edge of it sheared through the tiles of the arena roof as it approached the Hokage, making it easy for him to leap out of the way. Clenching a fist, the Kazekage made a pulling gesture that caused a blast of wind to catch Sarutobi on his flank and send him flying toward his enemy. The Kazekage loosed a flying kick that hit Sarutobi square in the stomach, folding the older shinobi over his leg. As the two kages fell back to the rooftop, the Kazekage pinned Sarutobi facedown with one hand. With his free hand he made a stiff-fingered blade. Using his chakra to guide the air, the Kazekage formed a spinning pinpoint of air around his fingertips, essentially turning his hand into a wind-encased drill bit.

Then he buried the point into Sarutobi's back with such force that it came out of his stomach and dug into the rooftop beneath them.

Sarutobi stiffened in shock, and then turned into a shapeless mass of flame. The Kazekage barely had time to comprehend what had happened before the fire was sucked into his vortex of wind, causing a smaller but still powerful explosion. The Kazekage was sent flying backward, but still managed to land on his feet. He had managed to avoid serious burns on his hand by quickly severing the chakra to his technique.

"I'm impressed," the Kazekage called, "Fire is an awfully unstable element to create a doppelganger out of."

Suddenly, the roof beneath the Kazekage's feet turned to liquid. He instantly sank up to his knees, and then the rooftop morphed back into stone, cementing him in place.

"This ends now!" Sarutobi yelled from behind the Kazekage.

The trapped shinobi did not know if his opponent was planning to stab him in the back or burn him alive with another fire style jutsu. Given his predicament, the Kazekage used the one tool he had always been trained to use in uncertain situations: overwhelming force.

Extending his arms out to the side, the Kazekage let out a roar as he painfully expelled wind chakra from every single chakra point in his keirakukei. The result was a tremendous, multidirectional wave of destructive force that shattered the arena wall beneath his feet down to ground level and destroyed everything else within a like distance in every direction. An entire eighth of the circular arena, and everyone in it, was ground down to nothing in an instant. Using a much smaller surge of chakra, the Kazekage created a gust of wind that carried him through the air and gently set him down on the intact roof some distance away.

When he landed, the Kazekage was towering over a prostrate Sarutobi, who had just managed to throw himself to the fringe of his enemy's attack. Despite his efforts, several deep cuts still marked his torso and arms, and he was breathing hard from the effort.

"Well now," the Kazekage said smugly, "That was a fair warm up, wouldn't you say?"

* * *

Kakashi flipped the kunai in his left hand into a reverse grip, spun, and buried the blade in the throat of the Sand-nin that had been trying to sneak up behind him. He faced forward again just in time to plant his foot in the stomach an Otogakure jonin who had been trying to take advantage of his brief distraction and send the man flying into the lower rows of arena seats. Three more enemy shinobi were arranged in a semicircle in front of Kakashi, silently waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Sakura and a pair of Asuma's genin were huddled on the ground two rows behind Kakashi. He had been doing his best to protect them since the fighting had started, but his lack of movement had caught the attention of many enemy shinobi. Killing them to defend the students was making him burn through too much chakra.

"Yosh!"

Might Guy flipped though the air and landed next to Kakashi. The eccentric jonin already had splatters of blood on his vest and the sleeves of his jumpsuit, none of it his own.

"I was wondering where you had gotten to," Kakashi said.

"A couple of them were circling around behind you to try and flank you from a distance," Guy admonished, "You should take better note of your surroundings."

"Sorry, it's been a bit busy around here."

"So I see. Some of our genin have managed to resist the enemy's genjutsu, eh? The fire of their youth is truly inspiring!"

"Yes, but it has also attracted a lot of attention. I think that I've killed ten of them already."

"What!" Guy shouted, aghast.

Kakashi looked at him in confusion. "Something wrong?"

"I have only gotten four! You're beating me! Ooooh, I will not allow you to bring our contest to a draw! If I do not kill at least five more enemies than you do by the end of the battle, then I will complete the next D-ranked mission assigned to me while walking on my hands!"

"Er…good luck with that."

"You three!" Guy thundered, pointing at the three enemies Kakashi had been facing off with, "You will be the first to experience my newest technique, _Dance of the Roaring Lions_!"

The three shinobi immediately tried to turn tail and run, but Guy was too fast for them. The jumpsuit-clad jonin leapt into their midst and started to gleefully beat the tar out of them, bellowing at the top his lungs about the fire of youth and making catlike growling sounds. Kakashi watched the entire spectacle in dumbfounded silence.

_He is fucking insane_, Kakashi thought to himself, _but at least he's good in a fight_.

Kakashi used the reprieve to rest his body and hide himself amongst the unconscious spectators. Six more enemies noticed Guy and converged on him in an all out frontal assault. When he noticed them, Guy enthusiastically hurled himself into the exact center of their formation, sending blood and teeth spraying into the air with every blow he launched. As he watched his colleague demolish his opponents, Kakashi detected movement in the corner of his eye. A seventh shinobi was sneaking around behind Guy. The hidden enemy launched himself at Guy's back, but the Konoha shinobi had seen him coming. He spun around with blinding speed, but before he could strike, a crutch came whirling through the air and struck the enemy jonin just behind his ear, knocking him out cold.

Kakashi looked at where the makeshift projectile had come from and saw Rock Lee in a hospital robe, his arm and leg in a cast, waving energetically at his mentor.

"Yosh, Lee! I see you have taken your anti-genjutsu training to heart! The fire of your youth burns brightly!"

"Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

Kakashi felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck as almost a dozen enemy ninja took notice of his two exuberant allies. They immediately began to converge on Guy, who hurled himself into the entire group of them without a moment's hesitation. Grumbling curse words the entire time, Kakashi followed his eccentric friend into the melee to cover his back.

_I hate my life_.

* * *

Shukaku let out a roar of victory as Gaara fell asleep. As the smothering blanket of his host's consciousness was pulled away, Shukaku let the entire bulk of his chakra flow freely. Golden energy radiated from his host's body in waves so intense that the ground beneath his feet shattered. Great cracks slithered up the surface of the arena walls. Using the barest modicum of its chakra, Shukaku gathered up a boulder sized mass of sand and hurled it against the wall, just for the fun of it. It cackled when the sand caused chunks of stone to rain into the arena.

As much as it hated its host, Shukaku did grudgingly admit to itself that being inside of a jinchuriki had its advantages. While being inside of a human did decrease a demon's power by a small margin, it also allowed the demon's mind to become more focused. On their own demons were so powerful that they were practically a force of nature, but they could often be beaten by humans because of their bestial natures. While inside of a jinchuriki, Shukaku possessed the advantages of both species: a demon's incredible power and a human's mental focus.

Coming back to itself, Shukaku looked at the dark haired human boy its host had been fighting. The child was staring at him with wide eyes. Gaara's memories confirmed that the boy possessed the Sharingan, one of the few tools humans possessed that were able to overcome a demon. While it was obvious that the little ninja had yet to fully master his eyes, he was still a slightly greater threat than anyone else in the arena because of them.

"**Such pretty eyes**," Shukaku said through Gaara's mouth. It had decided to refrain from assuming its true form so that it could enjoy the more cohesive thoughts a human body provided for it. After all, what was the point of murder if it did not have the attention span to appreciate the act? Clumsily, Shukaku forced Gaara's squishy human face into a smile. Because of his lack of experience at using a human body, the expression came out warped and uneven, making it all the more unnerving. "**I wonder what they'll taste like.**"

Shukaku sent a tidal wave of sand at the little Uchiha. Sasuke threw himself out of the way, causing the sand wave to crash into the arena wall. The demon formed a cluster of pellets out of sand, holding them in the air and compressing them with its chakra until they were nearly as hard as diamonds. Then it fired them at the boy with blinding speed. The makeshift stones smacked into Sasuke while he was still in the air. He was knocked onto his back, several bloody spots marking his arms and legs where the projectiles had hit him hard enough to break the skin. Shukaku sent another wave of sand, this one smaller and faster, intending to crush Sasuke and end the fight for good.

A pair of blood red, clawed hands slashed through the sand. Shukaku felt its chakra being forced out of the sand, causing the wave to collapse into a harmless cloud of grit.

Naruto was crouched in front of Sasuke, his entire body covered in red chakra. It looked like a translucent red fox was enveloping the young shinobi, with a single crimson tail swaying behind it.

"**Kyubi**," Shukaku greeted.

"**Shukaku**," Kyubi said through Naruto's mouth, "**Stop making such a mess of things.**"

"**Or what?**" Shukaku scoffed.

"**You dare to question me?**"

"**Oh, I dare. Look at you! You can only use a fraction of your true power, but I have all of mine at my disposal. It's hilarious, the big bad fox being forced to play at the same level as its youngest sibling!**"

"**You consider it to be advantageous that you possess only a fraction of my power? You are even more of a fool than the last time we met. I had hoped you might have gained at least some intelligence in the last two hundred years. Of course, you did spend a considerable amount of time in a tea kettle, so perhaps my expectations were too high.**"

"**At least I've always chosen my battles! No matter how many times I might have been implanted in a human; **_**my**_** mind always remained my own!**"

"**Watch your mouth, Shukaku, or I will kill you!**"

The Kyubi's aura flickered abruptly, like a candle flame caught in a strong breeze. It briefly gripped the side of its head with one hand before growling softly to itself and resuming its crouch.

"**Your human giving you a little trouble?**" Shukaku sneered, "**You've become pathetic, Kyubi. My host has lived in a state of constant fear of me, as any human should.**"

With a roar, Kyubi launched itself at Shukaku. The sand demon inhaled sharply and expelled a bullet of air and chakra at its enraged kin. The bullet hit Kyubi in the forehead, but the demon simply continued to charge through the resulting explosion. Panicking slightly, Shukaku picked itself up with sand and began to carry itself away while firing waves of sand. Kyubi simply swatted each wave with its clawed hands, expelling Shukaku's chakra from any sand it touched. The attacks did prevent it from catching up to Shukaku, giving the other demon time to build up chakra.

"**The brat came up with a couple interesting sand techniques this last month!**" Shukaku shouted at Kyubi, "**Let me show you my favorite!**"

Shukaku used its chakra to turn the ground underneath the Kyubi to sand. It grabbed the fox's back legs with the newly created sand and dragged the other demon deep underground. Then Shukaku squeezed Kyubi as hard as it could, compressing all of the sand it controlled at once.

"**Gyahahaha! I killed him, I really killed him!**"

"**RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHH!**"

Kyubi exploded from the ground at Shukaku's feet. The tanuki squealed in terror, desperately summoning up a shield of sand in front of it, but to no avail. Kyubi slashed at Shukaku with all of its strength, sending the other demon flying across the arena and smashing it into the wall. Deep lacerations ran across Shukaku's jaw and upper chest, but healed rapidly due to the flow of demonic chakra.

"**Dammit!**" Shukaku screamed, "**I forgot how much pain hurts! Screw this!**"

Shukaku summoned a massive quantity of sand to itself, and began to layer it over its host's body. In seconds, Gaara's body was completely covered in sand that was shaped to make it look like a miniature, upright Shukaku. The demon bared its fangs in a predatory smile at Kyubi, which the other demon returned.

"**Feeling a little vulnerable, Shukaku?**"

The sand demon responded by launching itself at Kyubi, arms spread wide to ensnare it in a crushing grip. Kyubi caught Shukaku's wrists with its front paws, skidding backwards across the ground from the collision. The two demons snarled and grappled with each other, but neither was able to gain an edge over the other. Out of sheer frustration, Shukaku bit Kyubi on the shoulder. Its fangs were unable to penetrate Kyubi's aura, and they shattered from the pressure of Shukaku's bite. The sand demon threw its head back and howled in rage as it formed new teeth from sand. Kyubi took the opportunity to sink its teeth into Shukaku. Its fangs, made of pure chakra instead of sand, scythed through Shukaku until they hit Gaara's body, breaking his collarbone and puncturing his chest and shoulder.

Shukaku shrieked in pain and fear. Desperately, it tried to back away from Kyubi, but the other demon's hold was too strong. With a muted snarl, the demon fox lifted Shukaku into the air with its fangs alone and shook it like a rag doll before tossing it aside with a flick of its head. Shukaku hurled across the arena and crashed into the wall, shattering it at the point of impact and causing chunks of rubble to follow it to the ground. It landed facedown, dazed and in pain, barely managing to keep its host alive.

Kyubi gave its fallen sibling no quarter, sprinting across the arena at breakneck speed. Its mind was completely lost to battle fury. The demon leapt into the air, claws raised, fully intending to end the fight.

"**DIE!!!**" the demon roared.

Shukaku rolled onto its back just in time to see Kyubi descending on him. It quailed, covering its face with its paws and mewling in despair.

When, after several moments had passed, Shukaku realized that it was still alive, it uncovered its eyes and stared in shock at Kyubi.

Kyubi was staggering around in the center of the arena, clutching its head and snarling. The sheath of crimson energy that gave it the shape of a fox was sputtering out like a dying fire. Hardly daring to believe its luck, Shukaku watched with a rising sense of victory as Naruto suppressed the Kyubi's mind, regaining control of his body and suppressing the demon's power.

With one final roar of effort, Naruto forced the demon fox back into its mental prison. He stood panting for a full minute from the exertion that even his exceptional stamina was hard pressed to cope with. When he had caught his breath, Naruto lifted his head to stare at Shukaku, cold fury etched into his face.

Naruto pointed at Shukaku and shouted, "Gaara! I know you can hear me in there, so listen up! Enjoy your rest while you can, 'cause I'm gonna wake you up right now!"

* * *

Keep an eye out for the epic conclusion! (and please review!)


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